2025 Lloyds Tour of Britain Women: stage 1 report & results
Kimberley Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance – Soudal) turned the North York Moors into her own launch-pad on today’s wind-raked opening stage of the 2025 Lloyds Tour of Britain Women, storming clear with Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education – Oatly) before out-sprinting the American on Redcar’s seafront to claim the stage, the race lead and every classification jersey going.
Kimberley Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance – Soudal) turned the North York Moors into her own launch-pad on today’s wind-raked opening stage of the 2025 Lloyds Tour of Britain Women (5 June), storming clear with Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education – Oatly) before out-sprinting the American on Redcar’s seafront to claim the stage, the race lead and every classification jersey going.
Featured image: SWpix.com
Report
The 142 km run from the dappled pines of Dalby Forest to the North Sea was a day of two halves: sedate through Pickering’s market town lanes, then savagely selective once the road tilted skywards. Blakey Ridge, the first Queen of the Mountains, merely loosened the screws. Langburn’s Bank, shrouded in moorland heather and lashed by a cross-tailwind, ripped them out altogether. There, with 70 km still to ride, Le Court-Pienaar detonated the race. Only Faulkner and Britain’s Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) could latch on. Henderson soon paid for the effort, slipping back into the splintered bunch, while the Mauritian and the Alaskan set about their two-up time-trial.
Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
Movistar and FDJ-Suez drove the chase, yet the gap hovered stubbornly around half a minute, yo-yoing down to 13 seconds inside the flamme rouge. Le Court-Pienaar, patently the fresher of the pair, opened her sprint from 300 metres and never looked back, punching the air as Faulkner begrudgingly settled for second. Five seconds later European champion Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx – Protime) mopped up third from what remained of the peloton.
The victory gifts Le Court-Pienaar a five-second buffer atop the general classification and, for good measure, the points and mountains jerseys too – the Mauritian matching Anouska Koster (Uno-X Mobility) on QOM points but claiming blue on count-back. Cat Ferguson (Movistar) delighted the home crowds with fifth and the best young rider’s white jersey.
Kim Le Court Pienaar (AG Insurance – Soudal Team) wins the first stage ahead of Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly). Image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
If the WorldTour stars lit up the race, Britain’s UCI Continental outfits were left battling the crosswinds and the clock. The honour of first rider from those ranks fell to DAS-Hutchinson’s Robyn Clay in 31st, 1-minute-53 adrift.
Kimberley Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance – Soudal) turned the North York Moors into her own launch-pad on today’s wind-raked opening stage of the 2025 Lloyds Tour of Britain Women (5 June), storming clear with Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education – Oatly) before out-sprinting the American on Redcar’s seafront to claim the stage, the race lead and every classification jersey going.
Featured image: SWpix.com
Report
The 142 km run from the dappled pines of Dalby Forest to the North Sea was a day of two halves: sedate through Pickering’s market town lanes, then savagely selective once the road tilted skywards. Blakey Ridge, the first Queen of the Mountains, merely loosened the screws. Langburn’s Bank, shrouded in moorland heather and lashed by a cross-tailwind, ripped them out altogether. There, with 70 km still to ride, Le Court-Pienaar detonated the race. Only Faulkner and Britain’s Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek) could latch on. Henderson soon paid for the effort, slipping back into the splintered bunch, while the Mauritian and the Alaskan set about their two-up time-trial.
Movistar and FDJ-Suez drove the chase, yet the gap hovered stubbornly around half a minute, yo-yoing down to 13 seconds inside the flamme rouge. Le Court-Pienaar, patently the fresher of the pair, opened her sprint from 300 metres and never looked back, punching the air as Faulkner begrudgingly settled for second. Five seconds later European champion Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx – Protime) mopped up third from what remained of the peloton.
The victory gifts Le Court-Pienaar a five-second buffer atop the general classification and, for good measure, the points and mountains jerseys too – the Mauritian matching Anouska Koster (Uno-X Mobility) on QOM points but claiming blue on count-back. Cat Ferguson (Movistar) delighted the home crowds with fifth and the best young rider’s white jersey.
If the WorldTour stars lit up the race, Britain’s UCI Continental outfits were left battling the crosswinds and the clock. The honour of first rider from those ranks fell to DAS-Hutchinson’s Robyn Clay in 31st, 1-minute-53 adrift.
Results
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