Two-thirds up the penultimate climb of stage four of the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women FDJ United-SUEZ were taking the race to the rest of the field, looking to set up British leader Lauren Dickson. However an unusual uphill crash put an end to the French team’s assault.
It was reigning Tour of Britain Women champion Ally Wollaston who invested the initial work at the foot of the 2.7km Hengoed climb, unleashing an electric pace to stretch out the bunch on the shallow lower slopes.
As things got steeper, the much-talked-about Kate Courtney took over, making her WorldTour debut following her switch to road racing from the mountain bike.
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The American champion thinned the group further. However, as the road pitched-up Courtney stood out of the saddle, moving to the left. As she did so, Dickson, on Courtney’s wheel, moved slightly to the right.
The pair made contact and Dickson, sitting ninth coming into the stage and leading the Queen of the Mountains competition, came down alongside several others. Race leader Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) was among more than a dozen held up.
Dickson and the rest who were delayed in the crash made it back to the leaders quickly ahead of the final climb of the stage, Clyro Hill. An attack from Liane Lippert (Movistar) and Le Court-Pienaar had Dickson in trouble.
Chasing back on the descent, Dickson crashed hard on a right-hand bend. Appearing in some pain, the 26-year-old decided to give up the pursuit and dropped out of contention for the General Classification top-10. She finished the stage in 50th place, 3:06 down on the victor Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-ProTime), who secured her third win of the race.
Thanks to her aggressive racing in the first three stages, Dickson retains the lead in the Queen of the Mountains competition ahead of the final stage.
“We’d executed the plan perfectly, the girls had led me out into the climb, and we were just about to make contact with the breakaway when there was an unfortunate touch of wheels and we came down,” Dickson said after the stage.
“It’s frustrating and slightly sore, but that happens sometimes. Over the last climb we were in a good position, I came down into one of the corners and there was gravel on the exit, and I hit it without seeing it and came straight off.”
“That kind of thing happens but it’s pretty disappointing after the work we’d put in.”
Dickson’s FDJ United SUEZ team-mate Courtney did make it into the front group in Hay-on-Wye. The American sprinted to an impressive fourth place behind winner Wiebes, Liane Lippert (Movistar) and Le Court-Pienaar.
The Lloyds Tour of Britain Women concludes on Sunday with a 123.8km stage starting and finishing in Royal Leamington Spa.
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