Niewiadoma and Lippert rewarded for attacking racing at OVO Energy Women’s Tour
14 June 2019 09:44
Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) and Liane Lippert (Team Sunweb) emerged as the strongest riders of the day on Thursday’s stage 4 of the OVO Energy Women’s Tour, finishing first and second in the race’s first-ever hilltop finish and now also occupying the first two spots overall. With 25 km to go, Niewiadoma and Lippert followed an attack by Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) on the first of three ascents of the finishing climb in Burton Dassett Country Park. The three riders led the peloton by 25 seconds going into the final lap, but they were caught soon after. How their teams reacted to this new situation became decisive for the outcome of the race. “Alice [Barnes] and Lisa [Klein] had been chasing down the breakaway,” Niewiadoma said. “Then on the final lap, Tiffany [Cromwell] and Hannah [Barnes] controlled all the small attack. I didn’t have to worry about any other scenario and could just focus on my own effort. I wanted to go deep on the final climb to win. It was one of the hardest races I’ve ever done. The stage was extremely long, we raced for 160 km, and at the end we had to do those brutal climbs.”ADVERTISEMENT Lippert also enjoyed the support of her team, with last year’s winner Coryn Rivera and Leah Kirchmann shepherding her on the final lap. Lippert was the only one who could follow Niewiadoma’s acceleration. “We got caught before the last 10 kilometres,” Lippert recounted. “Coryn and Leah were in the group and helped to position me really well for the final. It was really hard – just all out from 600 metres to go. I could see Kasia in front of me in the final metres, and I was getting closer. But she was super strong, and I simply could not catch her. I’m happy with my second place, it’s my first UCI Women’s WorldTour podium finish ever.” Niewiadoma had earmarked stage 4 from the start, knowing that it was her best shot at a stage victory. Lippert takes the race lead
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