Normally one of the most action packed races on the calendar, The Tour of Britain Women’s opening stage on Wednesday was no different. Although only with two categorised climbs throughout the day, constantly rolling, twisting roads and punchy ascents would make for a tricky day out.
Team Picnic PostNL set out with the plan to ride as aggressively as possible and to tire out the opposition sprinters where possible, be alert for any dangerous moves that went clear in the finale, and go for it in the finish with Josie Nelson.
Doing just that, Audrey De Keersmaeker used one of the early uncategorised drags to bridge across to the lone breakaway rider and would take enough points over the two climbs to wear the Queen of the Mountains jersey come the end of the day. De Keersmaeker was caught just before the top of the last categorised climb, where the team also had Nelson, Pfeiffer Georgi and Juliana Londono in a reduced peloton.
On the large local lap in the finale, things split once more on one of the many drags, with Nelson, Georgi and Londono making the leading peloton of around 30 riders. The trio then rotated through the attacks and followed the moves well, but the stage ultimately came down to a reduced bunch sprint. Some superb lead-out work by Georgi saw Nelson well positioned around the last corner, and the young Brit put in a strong sprint to take third place on the stage come the line.
