Women's Tour 2022: Elisa Longo Borghini takes Black Mountain stage to close in on leader Grace Brown

Trek-Segafredo’s Elisa Longo Borghini took an emphatic victory on Stage 5 of the Women’s Tour atop the Black Mountain in the Brecon Beacons National Park. The Italian champion broke clear of a small group of elite riders to beat Canyon//SRAM’s Kasia Niewiadoma to the line, ahead of yellow jersey Grace Brown in third. The Australian, riding for FDJ-Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Futuroscope, retains the lead in the general classification following a day of attritional racing in South Wales.

Ad/> The Queen stage of the race featured 2052m of elevation, and the first summit finish in the history of the Women’s Tour. Prior to the start, the top three in the general classification reflected the top 3 finishers on Stage 4, after a day in the hills distanced former leader Lorena Wiebes and the other sprinters from the top of the overall standings. Brown led by four seconds from Kasia Niewiadoma, with Longo Borghini another two seconds further back in third.

/> Women’s Tour cyclingBrown sprints to victory in Stage 4 to take leader's jersey at Women's Tour19 HOURS AGO With two category 1 climbs in the first half of the race there was nowhere to hide and the neutral start was really the only time that the peloton was intact. Wiebes was the first attacker of the day, breaking clear of the bunch from kilometre zero to set up what would be a hard day in the saddle for the peloton. The day’s early breakaway established itself shortly afterwards, a complement of seven riders attacking the first categorised climb of the day.