Lotte Kopecky outsprinted Letizia Paternoster (Liv ALUla Jayco) to win stage one of the Tour of Britain Women in Llandudno in North Wales.
Paternoster punched the air in celebration, believing she had taken the victory on the seafront ahead of the reigning World Champion, but a photo finish later declared Kopecky the winner.
A nine rider strong breakaway - including Lizzie Deignan and Anna Henderson of the Great Britain Cycling team - formed at the top of the day’s final climb, Ty’n y Llidiart, and soon built up an advantage of more than two minutes which meant they would contest the finish.
Henderson led the break into the final kilometre, but Kopecky opened the sprint for the line after Henderson had peeled off. Paternoster was straight onto the World Champion’s back wheel and lunged for the line alongside Kopecky. The Belgian ended up winning by a matter of millimetres ahead of Paternoster.
The current British national champion, Pfeiffer Georgi, took third place behind them. Deignan came in fourth.
Speaking after eventually being declared the winner, Kopecky said that she felt it was impossible to call between her and Paternoster at first.
"I made a couple of mistakes in the sprint myself," Kopecky said. "But then when it came to the line it was like ok I can only do one more thing and just make the best jump I can. Once we crossed the finish line, Letizia raised her hands but I was thinking ‘I'm not sure I won, but then I’m also not sure you won.'"
"We had a really good group in the front," Kopecky added. "I was also happy to have [Christine] Majerus with me in the first group. But you know in the last five kilometres when you go to the finish, for sure when there’s two riders from another team they start playing games but yeah, it was a nice final for me I think."
"It was a nice stage actually, pretty hilly but never flat, also with a lot of headwind. So it made it pretty slow at times because of the wind, but in the end I’m happy we could get in the break on the last climb, it was a nice race."
Deignan later said that the headwinds had impacted the race late on.
"I was happy with my form today," she said. "It was a strange race, almost nothing and everything. We would have liked moments of attack in the final finish, but with the headwinds stretch and the launchpads, we just had to do what we could.
"I think moving forward it will be a really open race, so hopefully a big breakaway could go, and we can use some of our other ideas and take other opportunities."
How it happened
The opening stage of the inaugural edition of the race was a largely hilly affair, but with a flat run into the finish in the coastal town of Llandudno.
A handful of small breakaway groups briefly had their moment in the spotlight at the head of the action, but as the race reached crunch time it all came back together.
With 36 kilometres to go, the race really started to open up on the final categorised climb of the day, Ty’n y Llidart. A group of nine riders, containing the likes of Lizzie Deignan and Anna Henderson (Great Britain Cycling team), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), Pfeiffer Georgi (dsm firmenich Post NL) and Letizia Paternoster (Liv ALUla Jayco), broke clear as they fought for the Queen of the Mountains points on offer.
The nine riders rapidly built up a two minute time gap as the pace ramped up on the descent back down towards the flatter terrain. Cofidis, who had been very active in the first half of the day’s racing, attempted to form some cohesion in the chasing peloton, but it would be to no avail due to the strength of the nine rider group that had formed.
Paternoster swept up the points on offer at the intermediate sprint at Dolgarrog.
With three kilometres to go the likes of Kopecky began to tighten her shoes as the group started to prepare for a sprint finish to the line alongside the seafront. Henderson launched a move solo looking to disrupt any attempt from SD Worx to control the finish. Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv ALUla Jayco) pulled Henderson back, but it had evidently unsettled the nine riders as the tension began to rise.
As the riders tore under the kilometre to go marker, Majerus started to lead out Kopecky but the two Jayco riders were straight onto the move. Kopecky launched her sprint with Paternoster locked into her wheel and the duo appeared to cross the line together.
Paternoster punched the air thinking she had won, but Kopecky would later be declared the winner after a photo finish showed that the Belgian had edged the sprint by a handful of millimetres.
Results
Tour of Britain Women 2024, stage one: Welshpool > Llandudno (142km)
1. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime, in 04:04:18
2. Letizia Paternoster (Ita) Liv ALUla Jayco,
3. Pfeiffer Gerogi (Gbr) dsm-firmenich PostNL,
4. Lizzie Deignan (Gbr) great Britain Cycling team,
5. Eline Jansen (Ned) Volker Wessels,
6. Anna Henderson (Gbr) Great Britain Cycling team,
7. Victorie Guilman (Fra) St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93,
8. Christine Majerus (Ned) SD Worx-Protime,
9. Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Aus) Liv ALUla Jayco, all at same time
10. Lucy Lee (Gbr) DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK +3:49
General classification after stage one
1. Lotte Kopecky (Bel) SD Worx-Protime, in 04:04:06
2. Letizia Paternoster (Ita) Liv ALUla Jayco, +3s
3. Pfeiffer Gerogi (Gbr) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +7s
4. Lizzie Deignan (Gbr) great Britain Cycling team, +12s
5. Eline Jansen (Ned) Volker Wessels,
6. Anna Henderson (Gbr) Great Britain Cycling team,
7. Victorie Guilman (Fra) St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93,
8. Christine Majerus (Ned) SD Worx-Protime,
9. Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Aus) Liv ALUla Jayco, all at same time
10. Lucy Lee (Gbr) DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK +4:01
