After her victory atop The Great Orme on stage 3 of the Tour of Britain Women, Mauritian champion Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) exchanged her multi-coloured national champion’s jersey for the green jersey of overall race leader.
The next day's stage 4, raced through the Welsh hills, was the hardest stage of the race with over 2,000 altitude metres, even if it didn't have an uphill finish like Friday's.
Nonetheless, Le Court-Pienaar was able to reply to all the attacks on the rollilng roads to Hay-on-Wre and defend her GC lead with a third-place finish in a reduced group sprint.
“We expected to be attacked left, right and centre by the other teams, but actually we really controlled the race today and took it into our own hands. There was an early break from Fleur Moors, which was really impressive. We knew we had to keep the gaps small to be able to bridge on the last few climbs," said Le Court-Pienaar after the finish.
"The team really controlled the race; I’m really satisfied with that and really grateful for the support of the team. In the final, we got attacked from all the teams, but I felt really good today and managed to come third on the stage, get some seconds and keep the green.”
With only one stage to go, the 30-year-old is now 24 seconds ahead of Liane Lippert (Movistar) and 29 seconds ahead of Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime). Wiebes has won three of the four stages so far and is the big favourite for stage 5 as the last 40km are flat, but there are only 13 bonus seconds on offer, so Le Court-Pienaar almost has the green leader’s jersey secured.
“I think it stays the same as yesterday. Every day is a new day, and we mustn’t get too confident. Keep the focus, keep the head on our shoulders, and keep fighting until the line,” the Mauritian pointed out that nothing is certain and she hasn’t won yet.
Nevertheless, she could take confidence from a strong performance in the British stage race and the Tour de France Femmes after crashes at Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders spoiled her spring campaign.
“It’s been a really crap first part of the season for me, so it’s really good to have this. The really tough mental state I was in at the beginning of the season was really, really hard, and I’m glad I fought through it.
"It proves that hard work, believing, and keeping on pushing for the light at the end of that dark tunnel is worth it, being away from home and family. The race is not over, but I’m going to fight everything I can to bring the jersey home for me, my friends, my family, and the team,” finished Le Court-Pienaar.
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