Tour of Britain 2026 – Stage 5 [FULL STAGE] (ladies)

August 23, 2026

11th Lloyds Tour of Britain Women 2026 🇬🇧 (2.WWT) WE – Stage 5 – Royal Leamington Spa – Royal Leamington Spa : 123,8 km

Tour of Britain Women is a UCI Women’s WorldTour stage race run across mixed British terrain, combining rolling countryside, short climbs, urban circuits, and occasionally exposed roads where wind can shape the race. The course is rarely extreme in altitude, but its constant variation makes pacing, positioning, and recovery between stages essential. Riders face narrow lanes, technical junctions, and repeated accelerations that can fragment the peloton, especially on punchy stages or in unsettled weather. Race dynamics often revolve around controlling breakaways, managing crosswinds, and setting up decisive moves on short climbs or reduced final circuits. Typical stage profiles may include hilly road stages, fast transitional sections, and finishes that can suit either strong sprinters or puncheurs depending on the route design. The finishing style is frequently a reduced bunch sprint, though solo attacks and small-group contests are common when the terrain becomes selective. The race rewards adaptability, team coordination, and the ability to handle sudden changes in rhythm.

Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) has won the Tour of Britain Women. Starting the final stage with a 24-second buffer, her green leader’s jersey was never really threatened, and stage 5 finished in a sprint that was won by Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) ahead of Lara Gillespie (UAE Team L’IMAD) and Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM).

A breakaway of three had formed with 97km to go when Sara Martín (Movistar) bridged to Eva van Agt (FDJ United-Suez) and Alice Towers (Great Britain).

They held a gap of up to 2:40 minutes and were still over two minutes ahead atop the final climb in the Burton Dassett Hills Country Park with 30.6km to go, but when the sprinters’ teams joined forces in the final, they caught the escapees 1.3km from the line.

The peloton split on a technical final kilometre in Royal Leamington Spa, and Zoe Backstedt (Canyon-SRAM) brought Consonni onto the finishing straight – but then Wiebes launched her sprint from Consonni’s wheel and won by several bike lengths while Gillespie pipped Consonni to the line for second place.

Due to the 10-second time bonification for the stage win, Wiebes leapfrogged Liane Lippert (Movistar) in the final GC to finish second overall after a race where she won four of the five stages.

Another victory for Lorena Wiebes
The final stage covered 123.8km through Warwickshire, starting with a loop to the north of Royal Leamington Spa before heading south along Fosse Way. In Shipston-on-Stour, the race turned back north, taking in two classified climbs before finishing in the start town again.

Margot Vanpachtenbeke (Lidl-Trek) attacked after less than 5km of racing and was quickly joined by Julia Borgström (Hitec Products-Fluid Control) and Morven Yeoman (DAS-Hutchinson), but they were reeled in again very soon.

Van Agt then attacked with 109km to go and was let go, quickly building a half-minute gap. Towers went on the chase, and Van Agt waited for her, making it a break of two that was 40 seconds ahead when Martín jumped from the peloton with 101km to go.

The front duo waited for the Spaniard, who made it to the front 97km from the finish, then they worked together to increase their advantage. When Arabella Blackburn (Handsling Alba) went on a solo chase, the three escapees were 1:40 minutes ahead, and Blackburn soon realised the futility of her effort and dropped back to the peloton.

78km from the finish, there was a crash near the back of the peloton that took down Maggie Coles-Lyster (Human Powered Health), Elynor Backstedt-Calvert, Claire Steels (Movistar), and Ricarda Bauernfeind (Lidl-Trek), though all of them could continue and finish the race.

When the breakaway rolled through the intermediate sprint atop Frizz Hill outside Wellesbourne, they were 2:03 minutes ahead of the peloton where AG Insurance-Soudal were controlling the race.

Entering the final 50km, UAE Team L’IMAD, Canyon-SRAM, Picnic PostNL, and Liv AlUla Jayco also came to the front, but nonetheless, the gap went out to 2:40 minutes at the bottom of Sun Rising Hill, putting Van Agt in the virtual race lead.

Towers had to leave a small gap to the other two escapees on the short but steep climb but could close it again just before the top. In the peloton, Josie Nelson (Picnic PostNL) attacked and was followed by Le Court-Pienaar, Lippert, and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. Le Court-Pienaar countered, but after the steepest part of the hill, Wiebes, Gillespie, Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike), Kate Courtney (FDJ United-Suez), and Caroline Andersson (Liv AlUla Jayco) could come back from behind.

Andersson and Le Court-Pienaar kept up the pace, then Nelson took over and led the group of nine over the QOM, 2:20 minutes behind the break. More riders joined on the plateau after the climb, there was no cooperation as the group grew bigger and bigger, and after a few unsuccessful attacks, a peloton of around 60 riders entered the climb through Burton Dassett Hills Country Park, 2:33 minutes behind the break.

There were no attacks as Le Court-Pienaar herself set the pace in the peloton, reducing the bunch to only 23 riders at the top, though with another group of ten only seconds behind. At the QOM, they were 2:03 minutes down on the breakaway.

In the bunch, where things slowly but surely came back together, there were several attempts to get away, but none of them lasted long, and when Julia Kopecký and Femke Gerritse (both SD Worx-Protime) came to the fore with 24km to go, it was clear that if the breakaway didn’t succeed, the race would end in a bunch sprint.

The sprinters’ teams had to work hard for it, though, as despite Canyon-SRAM, UAE Team L’IMAD, and Human Powered Health joining in with SD Worx-Protime, who also put Mischa Bredewold to work, the gap stayed above a minute into the last 10km.

Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team L’IMAD), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, and Soraya Paladin (both Canyon-SRAM) also helped in the chase in the final, and with 3.5km to go, the three escapees were only 15 seconds ahead.

There was a brief moment of confusion as Gerritse and Bredewold pulled away when Aude Biannic (Movistar) let a gap open up with 3km to go, but Marit Raaijmakers (Human Powered Health) quickly closed the gap with Wiebes and Coles-Lyster on her wheel and the rest of the bunch following behind.

With the breakaway less than 10 seconds away, Anna Morris (Great Britain) launched a last-minute attack on the penultimate kilometre, but this only served to close the gap to the break just before a right-hand turn with 1.3km to go.

On the final kilometre, Zoe Backstedt started her lead-out for Consonni, and the two 90-degree turns caused splits in the peloton, but Wiebes was perfectly positioned on Consonni’s wheel and launched her sprint out of the final corner, pulling ahead to win the stage by about five bike lengths.

With her four stage victories, Wiebes also won the red points jersey while Lauren Dickson (FDJ United-Suez) won the blue QOM jersey. Nelson was the best-placed British rider in ninth place overall, and Fleur Moors (Lidl-Trek) won the overall combativity prize, the white U23 jersey as 13th in GC, and the team classification together with her Lidl-Trek teammates.

Results :

Final General Classification :