Women’s Tour 2022: Elisa Longo Borghini takes Black Mountain stage to close in on leader Grace Brown

Trek-Segafredo’s Elisa Longo Borghini took an emphatic victory on Stage 5 of the Women’s Tour atop the Black Mountain in the Brecon Beacons National Park.

The Italian champion broke clear of a small group of elite riders to beat Canyon//SRAM’s Kasia Niewiadoma to the line, ahead of yellow jersey Grace Brown in third. The Australian, riding for FDJ-Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Futuroscope, retains the lead in the general classification following a day of attritional racing in South Wales.

The Queen stage of the race featured 2052m of elevation, and the first summit finish in the history of the Women’s Tour. Prior to the start, the top three in the general classification reflected the top 3 finishers on Stage 4, after a day in the hills distanced former leader Lorena Wiebes and the other sprinters from the top of the overall standings. Brown led by four seconds from Kasia Niewiadoma, with Longo Borghini another two seconds further back in third.

With two category 1 climbs in the first half of the race there was nowhere to hide and the neutral start was really the only time that the peloton was intact. Wiebes was the first attacker of the day, breaking clear of the bunch from kilometre zero to set up what would be a hard day in the saddle for the peloton.

The day’s early breakaway established itself shortly afterwards, a complement of seven riders attacking the first categorised climb of the day. The group were kept on a short leash however, never accruing more than around half a minute over the chasing pack. Canyon//SRAM’s Elise Chabbey joined the group in an attempt to defend her Queen of the Mountains jersey, but she was unable to overcome Christine Majerus (Team SD Worx), who took maximum points on Pontyates Hill.

With the first break absorbed a fresh battle ensued, with numbers whittled down significantly by the high early pace, and the strongest climbers scenting their chance for victory. Uno-X’s Joss Lowden was the next to stick an attack. She soloed away from the bunch and crested Crwbin, the second climb of the day, at the head of the race.

Romy Kasper of Team Jumbo-Visma followed suit, and she was eventually joined by another ten riders to form a strong chasing group. With Lowden caught and the peloton maintaining a steady gap of around 1.15, the race proceeded without incident for 50km.

With the final climb approaching and the gap dipping below 30 seconds for the first time, Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) pushed the pace in the front group, but it was curtains for the break, who were caught by a rampaging peloton led by FDJ with just under 20km remaining.

Clara Copponi (FDJ) won the intermediate sprint to add to the honours for her team before a crash briefly disrupted the action, as a tense peloton compressed passing through a pinch point on the road causing a small pile-up. Christa Doebel-Hickok of EF Education-TIBCO-SVB was the worst affected but later caught up with the group.

The Black Mountain presented a significant final challenge – 5.5km in length at an average gradient of 5.6%, it unsurprisingly slimmed the bunch down once more, as Van Dijk drove the pace for her team leader Longo Borghini and the lower slopes took their toll on many of the riders.

As the climb progressed, the lead group diminished to around 20 riders. Longo Borghini tried her luck at distancing her rivals, but her early attacks were not enough to shake off Brown and the rest.

Attacks came one after another, with Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, Riejanne Markus, Niewiadoma and Kristen Faulkner all having a crack, but with road running out Longo Borghini looked dominant. She opened up her sprint with 200m remaining and with only Niewiadoma able to stay with her, held off the Polish rider to take victory.

The Trek rider moves into second on GC, equal on time with Brown and just two seconds ahead of Niewiadoma, and sets up what promises to be a mouth-watering final stage.

General Classification

• 01 – Grace Brown – (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futuroscope) – 15:40:56
• 02 – Elisa Longo Borghini – (Trek-Segafredo) – + 00
• 03 – Kasia Niewiadoma – (CANYON//SRAM Racing) – + 02
• 04 – Alexandra Manly – (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) – + 20
• 05 – Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Team SD Worx) – + 28
• 06 – Elise Chabbey – (CANYON//SRAM Racing) – + 45
• 07 – Kristen Faulkner – (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) – + 50
• 08 – Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) – + 01:41
• 09 – Sofia Bertizzolo – (UAE Team ADQ) – + 01:46
• 10 – Mikayla Harvey – (CANYON//SRAM Racing) – + 01:52

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