Lizzie Deignan's farewell tour off to tricky start on Yorkshire home roads
Deignan's valedictory race on British roads began with a fast 85.6km opening stage, from Dalby Forest to the beachfront in Redcar, and took in some of her longstanding training roads within an hour or so of her home in Otley, West Yorkshire.
But although her team had strength in depth in the 20-rider pursuit of the day's breakaway, they proved unable to close down Le Court and Kristen Faulkner, the Olympic champion, who stayed clear to contest the seaside finish.
'We had a clear plan and executed it exactly as we wanted,' said Le Court, riding for the AG Insurance-Soudal team. 'I'm really happy that the legs reacted and I was able to pull it off for the team. We'll see how long I can keep the jersey for. Friday is a stage that suits me a bit more, so I'm going in with a bit more confidence than today.'
Deignan was prominent throughout the stage, but whenLe Court, winner of this year's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, broke clear on Langburn's Bank, the steepest gradient of the second classified climb, Deignan's Lidl-Trek team was distanced.
Le Court's powerful acceleration on the 16% sections at the base of the climb proved too much for her rivals, including Deignan's teammate, the Paris 2024 silver medallist Anna Henderson, who tried to give chase but was unable to follow the move.
Only Faulkner, of EF Education-Oatly, was able to close the gap and the pair, who joined forces on the descent, then worked together to build a half-minute lead on their pursuers during the undulating run into Redcar. Even though Deignan's team had four of their five riders in the chasing group, and were aided both by Cat Ferguson's Movistar team and the French FDJ-Suez team, they were unable to close down the half-minute advantage.
But Faulkner almost came unstuck on a right-hand bend in the closing kilometres, misjudging her speed and skidding to a halt against a traffic island. Sportingly, Le Court, knowing that their break had a better chance of success if the pair stayed together, waited for the American.
While Lorena Wiebes, a past stage winner, took third in the sprint, Ferguson, making her debut in the race, was the first British finisher on the stage, finishing fifth. The junior world road race champion is now sixth overall, 18 seconds adrift of Le Court.
Ferguson, who also took the lead in the best young rider classification, admitted she had expected there to be a regrouping in the final kilometres. 'I thought it would definitely come down to a sprint,' the 19-year-old said, 'so for the two to stay away was a surprise. They were too strong, so credit to them for staying away.'
By her own admission Deignan's days as an overall contender are probably gone, but Skipton-born Ferguson, seen as her natural heir, is well-placed to make an impact as the race goes on. 'I've not thought about my strategy yet,' she said, 'but I'm just going to take it day by day and approach each day like we did today, like a real team.'
Friday's second stage of the four-day race takes the peloton from Hartlepool to Saltburn-by-the-sea and finishes with the infamous hairpins of Saltburn Bank, the venue for recent National Championships. The steep climb to the finish is well-known to British riders in the peloton and was pivotal to the outcome of the women's road race in 2023 and 2024, both of which were won by Pfeiffer Georgi, of the Picnic PostNL team.
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