Lizzie Deignan praised "a phenomenal ride" by Great Britain team-mate Anna Henderson on the Tour of Britain Women stage two, starting and finishing in Wrexham. Henderson, who is on a comeback after breaking her collarbone twice in the early season, held on for second in Wrexham behind breakaway partner and stage winner Lotte Kopecky.
After the pair broke away on the Horseshoe Pass with 25km to go, the Belgian prevailed in what was a technical city centre sprint, making it two-in-a-row. They finished 20 seconds ahead of a large chasing group, led in by Kopecky's SD Worx-Protime team-mate Lorena Wiebes.
Henderson's ride saw her move up from sixth place to second on GC, leapfrogging Deignan, who dropped from fourth to fifth.
The Great Britain team, which also features Elinor Barker and Elynor Bäckstedt, will defend Henderson's second, said Deignan.
"I think we'll try and defend that second place," she said. "We've still got a lot to play for. The team's riding really well together, really strong, Anna did a phenomenal ride today."
The 140km stage also saw Deignan defend her blue Queen of the Mountains jersey, extending her lead to 10 points over current runner-up Kopecky.
"We knew there'd be two pretty difficult times today and I would have a good try at defending the jersey," said Deignan, who usually rides for the Lidl-Trek WorldTour team. "I thought, well I've got it now and let's try and keep it."
She predicted that with a Kopecky's GC lead now established at 17 seconds, SD Worx-Protime would turn their focus to winning sprints with Wiebes.
"It'll be up to the rest of us to upset that plan I guess," she said.
How it happened
After a few false starts by riders attempting to establish a break, Franzisco Koch (dsm-firmenich PostNL) succeeded when she attacked solo after around 25km of racing, and quickly established a gap, almost by stealth.
That gap quickly rose to nearly four minutes before inevitably beginning to fall again in the second half of the race as the key appointment of the category one Horseshoe Pass drew nearer.
Koch stayed out front long enough to take both the QoM points on the category three climb to Eyton Hill and the sprint points too in Johnstown a few kilometres later.
But with Horseshoe Pass looming Koch was returned to the fold and the peloton set about pulling hard.
As the bunch shedded riders like seeds in the wind, green jersey wearer Kopecky sprung from the front of the race, with Henderson the only rider able to follow.
Despite the concerted efforts of a large chasing group of some of Kopecky's biggest rivals in the race, including Pfeiffer Georgi (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Letitzia Paternoster (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), the pair held on to contend a technical sprint finish in Wrexham.
Results
Tour of Britain Women 2024 stage two
1. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime, in 3:37:12
2. Anna Henderson (GBr) Great Britain, at same time
3. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, +20sec
4. Letitzia Paternoster (Ita) Liv-AlUla-Jayco
5. Pfeiffer Georgi (GBr) dsm-firmenich PostNL
6. Sarah Roy (Aus) Cofidis
7. Margot Vanpachtenbeke (Bel) VolkerWessels PCT
8. Josie Talbot (Aus) Cofidis
9. Lizzie Deignan (GBr) Great Britain
10. Eline Jansen (Ned) VolkerWessels PCT, all at same time
General Classification after stage two
1. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime, in 07:41:07
2. Anna Henderson (GBr) Great Britain Cycling team, +17s
3. Letizia Paternoster (Ita) Liv ALUla Jayco, +34s
4. Pfeiffer Georgi (GBr) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +38s
5. Lizzie Deignan (GBr) Great Britain Cycling team, +43s
6. Eline Jansen (Ned) Volker Wessels,
7. Victorie Guilman (Fra) St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93,
8. Christine Majerus (Ned) SD Worx-Protime, all at same time
9. Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Aus) Liv ALUla Jayco, +3:01
10. Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx, +4:29
