The Women's Tour of Britain was expected to be a showcase for the peloton's sprinter(s) over four punchy stages in England and Scotland. Lorena Wiebes in particular came into the WorldTour event 'cautiously' dreaming of multiple stages and even overall victory on happy hunting ground – the European champion had six Tour of Britain stage wins to her name before the 2025 edition. It was also a great opportunity for her team SD Worx-Protime to take their first GC title of the season, but what awaited them and the rest of the peloton was a dramatic string of stages punctuated by chaos, crashes and unlikely winners.
Not only were there four distinct stage winners from four different teams, but the race lead changed hands every single day, culminating eventually in a fourth* GC win of the year for FDJ-Suez, this time with Kiwi puncheur and track rider Ally Wollaston.
(* One hour after the finish of the Tour of Britain, Demi Vollering took number five at the Volta a Catalunya Femenina, where the team also scored a stage win clean sweep.)
Stage winners (and leaders)
- Kim Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal)
- Mara Roldan (Picnic-PostNL); Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly)
- Cat Ferguson (Movistar), also new race leader
- Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime); Ally Wollaston (FDJ-Suez)
[race_result id=9063 stage_id=87513 count=10 gc=10 year=2025]
Opportunity knocks on stage 1
Kim Le Court had already more than made a name for herself as a key protagonist of the 2025 season, and after taking the whole of May off following her surprise Liège-Bastogne-Liège victory, the Mauritius national champion was one to watch as the Tour of Britain got underway across the North York Moors.
When Le Court ultimately did attack on the second classified climb of the day, she successfully blew up the peloton that might have hoped to keep things together for a sprint on the Redcar beachfront. She was joined briefly by Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek), but only Kristen Faulkner could rejoin her on the descent as a group of 20-odd riders formed half a minute behind them.
Did we do a good job with this story?