Marta Bastianelli sprints to win opening stage of Women’s Tour of Britain

Marta Bastianelli sprinted to a first-ever stage win in the Women’s Tour of Britain in Banbury, as a last-gasp breakaway was reeled in after attacking on the final climb of stage one, to Sibford Ferris.

The Italian, fifth in Saturday’s Paris-Roubaix Femmes behind race winner Lizzie Deignan, was the fastest finisher after the peloton had caught a five-rider attack on the run-in to Banbury and will now defend the leader’s jersey in Tuesday’s second stage, a circuit starting and finishing in Walsall.

“There was a breakaway with about two or three kilometres to go, and a big crash at one kilometre to go,” Bastianelli said. “Luckily, I didn’t crash, and started the sprint in third position, which for me was the maximum. But the sprint wasn’t easy. It was a little bit uphill, but for me, it was a good day.”

The 34-year-old former world champion, who rides for the Alé BTC Ljubljana team, held off Deignan’s Trek-Segafredo teammate, Chloe Hosking, and Clara Copponi to become the oldest stage winner in the history of the Women’s Tour. A fatigued Deignan finished 40th, 26 seconds behind Bastianelli, with Hannah Barnes, of Canyon SRAM Racing, the highest-placed British rider in sixth.

However, Bastianelli does not see herself as a likely overall winner. “To win [overall] will be very difficult because there is the time trial, which is not the best for me,” she said, “but I will see day by day and maybe win another stage, or get in another breakaway in another stage.”

On a relatively uneventful stage, rerouted at one point following a road traffic accident, many of those on the start line in Bicester were still recovering from their efforts in last Saturday’s first-ever women’s Paris-Roubaix. Bastianelli, however, was among those with fresher legs.

Hosking, who made a winning return to racing in August’s Tour of Norway after recovering from Covid-19, took second place on the stage but her team’s hopes of mounting a sustained challenge were dented by the abandon of Italian national champion, Elisa Longo Borghini, who was still recovering from her efforts in finishing third in Roubaix at the weekend.

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“I felt really supported all day which as a sprinter is really nice, with everyone backing me for the finish,” Hosking said. “I dodged the crash with just under a kilometre to go and was just surfing wheels. Maybe I opened my sprint a little bit early [as] I just ran out of legs in the last five metres and had to settle for second.”

source: theguardian.com