Le Court seizes green jersey with stage win at Great Orme
Mauritian rider Kim Le Court won stage three of the Tour of Britain Women at Great Orme, taking over the overall leader's green jersey. She now leads the general classification by 26 seconds ahead of Germany's Liane Lippert.
Kim Le Court of the AG Insurance-Soudal team, representing Mauritius, won the third stage of the Lloyd's Tour of Britain Women, a 104.7km race from Mold finishing atop Great Orme in north Wales. The victory moved the 30-year-old into the overall leader's green jersey.
Le Court made her decisive move three kilometres from the finish on the winding final climb near Llandudno. She crossed the line 13 seconds ahead of Germany's Liane Lippert of Movistar, with Sweden's Caroline Andersson of Liv Alula Jayco finishing third, a further seven seconds back.
In the overall standings, Le Court now holds a 26-second lead over Lippert, while the Netherlands' Lorena Wiebes sits third, 35 seconds adrift. Le Court also led the race at this stage last year, before crashing heavily in wet conditions during the second stage from Hartlepool. This year, racing in dry weather, she showed strong form by pulling clear of her rivals.
"You can never be too confident," Le Court said. "Last year I took the green jersey on day one then on day two I crashed out, so we'll keep our head on our shoulders and keep fighting until the end."
The race's opening two stages were won by Wiebes, widely regarded as the world's best sprinter, who dominated both bunch finishes. However, the SD Worx-Protime rider lost the overall lead once the race reached Great Orme, a stage finish steeped in Tour of Britain history. The 27-year-old Wiebes also surrendered the red points jersey to Le Court, though she stayed close, finishing just 42 seconds behind on the stage.
Britain's Lauren Dickson of FDJ United-Suez claimed the blue queen of the mountains jersey and now leads that competition by 12 points. Belgium's Fleur Moors of Lidl-Trek continues to hold the white young rider's jersey.
