Niamh Fisher-Black equals best ever Grand Tour result
Photo:
JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
Nelson cyclist Niamh Fisher-Black has equalled her best result on a Grand Tour.
The 24-year-old finished fourth on the final stage of the Tour de France Femmes to place fifth overall.
Fisher-Black started the ninth and final stage in eighth position but made her move on the three punishing climbs.
She finished 14th in last year's race.
Fisher-Black was fifth on the 2022 Giro d'Italia Donne.
Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot became the first Frenchwoman to win the Tour de France Femmes, finishing ahead of 2023 champion Demi Vollering of the Netherlands.
Fisher-Black was part of a group that contested the final part of the 124km stage, before Ferrand-Prevot launched a decisive attack in the last seven kilometres.
Ferrand-Prevot, who won gold in women's cross-country mountain biking at last year's Paris Games, had taken the yellow jersey from Kimberley Le Court on Saturday.
Fisher-Black of Lidl Trek finished six and a half minutes behind the Frenchwoman in the final general classification.
Fellow New Zealander Ella Wyllie was 12th overall.
The best result by a New Zealand male in a Grand Tour is George Bennett's eighth place finish in the 2018 Giro d'Italia.
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