Le Court wins stage one of Tour of Britain Women
Kim le Court got the better of Kristen Faulkner in a two-up sprint finish to win the first stage of the Tour of Britain Women.The pair attacked and went clear of the peloton with 30km to go and then held off the chasing pack.Mauritian Le Court, 29, launched her sprint from the front with just over 200m to go and outlasted the American Olympic road race champion to the line.Lorena Wiebes led home a much-reduced bunch in third, five seconds behind, while British riders Cat Ferguson and Millie Couzens finished fifth and sixth.Two-time champion Lizzie Deignan finished 20th as she races in Britain for the final time before retiring. Last year Le Court became the first Mauritian rider to compete in the World Tour, and she won the prestigious Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day race in April.
The four-day Tour of Britain Women began with an 81.5km stage in North Yorkshire between Dalby Forest and Redcar.The riders faced two classified climbs, at Blakey Ridge and Langburn's Bank, with Le Court starting her attack at the bottom of the latter, with Faulkner in pursuit.Behind the lead pair the peloton split, with FDJ-Suez and Movistar leading the chase from a reduced group which was 34 seconds behind with 28km to go.Faulkner almost crashed out of the race with 15km to go, misjudging a corner and narrowly avoiding a traffic island. Le Court waited for her to regain momentum and the two continued with their break until the finish, before winning the sprint to take the leader's jersey.Friday's second stage is over a 114.3km route between Hartlepool and Saltburn-by-the-sea.
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