Lorena Wiebes takes her third victory in the Tour of Britain in phenomenal fashion

There is simply no stopping Lorena Wiebes in this Lloyds Tour of Britain. The 27-year-old Dutch rider showed great class in the fourth stage. She impressively bridged across to the leading duo. Once the selective lead group had grown in size, she single-handedly controlled the entire finale before putting the icing on the cake with an unstoppable sprint to victory. “A well-deserved win for an incredibly strong Lorena Wiebes,” praised sports director Christian Kos.

Christian Kos: “This was a difficult stage with a lot of elevation gain, but the finish was flat. So we knew it was important to try and survive the climbs. In the reduced group, we were still well represented with Mischa Bredewold and Lorena Wiebes, after which Mischa was involved in a crash on a climb. She came back, tried to attack, but could not get away. So we decided to see how far we could go with Lorena. She made it over the final climb impressively and then closed the gap herself to Kim Le Court and Liane Lippert, after which she completely took control of the final ten kilometres and finished it off in magnificent style. A wonderful victory.”

Lorena Wiebes: “It was a long stage. Fleur Moors went on the attack very early and was given some space. AG Insurance-Soudal did the chasing, which was fine for us. After that, Julia Kopecky and Femke Gerritse positioned us well heading into the climbs, because we knew the toughest part of the race would come in the finale with those two QOM points.”

“On the penultimate climb, we were slightly hindered by the crash. I was just out of position when Liane Lippert attacked on the climb and Kim bridged across to her. I could not respond immediately because I was out of position. Fortunately, Femke Gerritse came across and kept the pace high, after which Mischa joined us. The attacks came on the steep section, but we were able to limit the damage on the descent, after which I was able to bridge across.”

“When the five of us were at the front, the cooperation was good. But when another five riders joined us, it became a more difficult finale for me because everyone was looking at me. I knew there would be attacks coming one after another and that it was important to respond immediately. I also had to make sure that no group came back from behind. In the end, everything worked out perfectly and resulted in a beautiful victory. Tomorrow I will try to go for it again in the final stage of this Lloyds Tour of Britain,” said Lorena Wiebes, who sits in third place in the general classification.