Wollaston denies GB's Ferguson to win Tour of Britain

5 hours ago 5

Ally Wollaston overturned a three-second deficit to win the Tour of Britain Women and deny British teenager Cat Ferguson victory.

The New Zealander won all three intermediate sprints on the final stage in Glasgow to draw level with 19-year-old Ferguson, before gaining another four bonus seconds by finishing third behind stage winner Lorena Wiebes and Charlotte Kool.

Wollaston, of FDJ-Suez, beat Movistar's Ferguson by four seconds overall, with UAE Team ADQ's Dutchwoman Karlijn Swinkels finishing third.

"I'm a little bit overwhelmed - sorry. I'm so happy, first of all. A massive 'thank you' to my team-mates, I couldn't have done it without them. This means the world to me - it's my first World Tour victory in GC [general classification]," said Wollaston.

"I knew I needed to get every second I could in the bonus sprints, and unfortunately Cat was right in my wheel every time.

"So it came down to the last sprint, and there was a moment of doubt halfway through that last lap where I thought 'I just cannot do this today'. My team-mates really helped me pull it together and pulled me to the front for the final."

Ferguson looked like claiming the first of three time bonuses for the intermediate sprints at the end of the fourth lap of the 8.4km city-centre circuit, but Wollaston squeezed past her with just metres remaining.

Wollaston then beat the Briton in the second intermediate sprint to trail the overall leader's green jersey by one second.

The 24-year-old moved into the lead with victory on the third intermediate sprint to set up a thrilling finale.

European champion Wiebes launched her attack at the 300m mark before powering over the line first, followed by Kool and Wollaston, who took the last bonus seconds to win the overall classification.

Wollaston's FDJ-Suez also won the team classification, while Ferguson, who finished the fourth stage in seventh, claimed the red points jersey.

  1. Lorena Wiebes (Ned/Team SD Worx–Protime) 1hr 57mins 13secs

  2. Charlotte Kool (Ned/Team Picnic-PostNL) Same time

  3. Ally Wollaston (NZ/FDJ-Suez) Same time

  4. Chiara Consonni (Ita/Canyon Sram-Zondacrypto) Same time

  5. Babette van der Wolf (Ned/EF Education - Oatly) Same time

  6. Anna Henderson (GB/Lidl-Trek) Same time

  7. Cat Ferguson (GB/Movistar Team) Same time

  8. Celia Gery (Fra/FDJ-Suez) Same time

  9. Linda Zanetti (Sui/Uno-X Mobility) Same time

  10. Nienke Veenhoven (Ned/Visma-Lease a Bike)

  1. Ally Wollaston (NZ/FDJ-Suez) 10hrs 36mins 45secs

  2. Cat Ferguson (GB/Movistar Team) +04secs

  3. Karlijn Swinkels (Ned/UAE-Team ADQ) +22secs

  4. Riejanne Markus (Ned/Lidl-Trek) +50secs

  5. Sarah van Dam (Can/Ceratizit) +1min 01sec

  6. Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig (Den/Canyon Sram-Zondacrypto) +1min 02secs

  7. Megan Jastrab (USA/Team Picnic-PostNL) Same time

  8. Anna Henderson (GB/Lidl-Trek) +1min 06secs

  9. Quinty Ton (Ned/Liv AlUla-Jayco) Same time

  10. Millie Couzens (GB) +1min 09secs

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