Vos Leads The Way and the Rest Just Follow! Chasing Down the Leading Group in the closing Kilometers, It’s Vos Back to her Best.
by Anna Magrath | Jun 18, 2016
Lizzie Armitstead retained her Aviva Yellow Jersey heading into the final stage of the Aviva Women’s Tour as reigning Olympic Road Race Champion Marianne Vos took the Stage Four victory from Nottingham to Stoke-on-Trent, the European City of Sport for 2016.
Vos headed home Team Liv Plantur’s Leah Kirchmann and Wiggle HIGH5’s Emma Johansson, as a front group of 21-riders contested the finish on an uphill drag into Stoke-on-Trent city centre.
In the process the Rabo Liv rider narrowed her gap to Armitstead on the overall classification to 15-seconds, although Armitstead’s nearest challenger, Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, slipped back to eight-seconds down in second overall, with Elisa Longo Borghini a further two seconds in arrears.
“We race as a team and we race aggressively, that’s always our tactic. From a team perspective we had a good race I had good legs again on the climb,” said Lizzie Armitstead after the stage.
“The race stayed together until the climb and then me, Ashley and Elisa went on the second Queen of the Mountains, Emma was in no-man’s land so she came back up to us and there was a bit of cooperation for maybe 5k and then Emma and Elisa started attacking
“In the final kilometres I could tell they [peloton] were coming back…coming into the final kilometre there were a couple of turns with up-hill flickers and again Emma and Elisa were attacking so it was just about covering them and as the group from behind pulled I tried to put myself in a good position but got caught out a little bit on the last corner.”
On the tough run through the Staffordshire Moorlands in the final third of the stage, Armitstead had again proved herself to be one of the toughest riders in the race, escaping in a four rider group that went clear on two back-to-back Strava Queen of the Mountains climbs at Ramshorn and Oakamoor.
In addition to the World Champion, her breakaway companions from Stage Three who lies second and third overall, Moolman Pasio and Longo Borghini, joined her along with Swedish national champion Emma Johansson.
The four struck out until just after the final kilometre marker, with Vos leading the chase to catch them on the final climb of Botteslow Street into Stoke-on-Trent city centre. The winner of the 2014 Women’s Tour made the catch and then straight away led out the sprint through the final corner and into the short, uphill finish straight.
“We were riding full gas and we could see them but they were attacking each other so sometimes they were making really high speeds and sometimes it came closer and then the final kilometre was more up than I expected,” said Vos afterwards.
“On Google Maps it looked a wide road and nicely through some roundabouts but it went ‘boom’ uphill but they were still within 10-seconds, so I decided to just go because otherwise you don’t have a chance.
“I knew I had a chance in the sprint but if there are still four in the lead then you are sprinting for fifth and that wasn’t really in my plan today.”
Stage Four Top Twenty
1 91 VOS Marianne 00″ RBW NED B:15″
2 42 KIRCHMANN Leah ‘ ‘ TLP CAN B:07″
3 11 JOHANSSON Emma ‘ ‘ WHT SWE B:04″
4 23 *DIDERIKSEN Amalie ‘ ‘ DLT DEN
5 1 BRENNAUER Lisa ‘ ‘ LPR GER
6 21 ARMITSTEAD Elizabeth ‘ ‘ DLT GBR B:03″
7 16 PIETERS Amy ‘ ‘ WHT NED
8 83 MOOLMAN-PASIO Ashleigh ‘ ‘ CBT RSA
9 25 HARRIS Nikki ‘ ‘ DLT GBR
10 24 VAN DIJK Ellen ‘ ‘ DLT NED
11 15 LONGO BORGHINI Elisa ‘ ‘ WHT ITA
12 34 JASINSKA Malgorzata ‘ ‘ ALE POL
13 71 SPRATT Amanda ‘ ‘ OGE AUS
14 43 *MACKAIJ Floortje ‘ ‘ TLP NED
15 14 KING Danielle ‘ ‘ WHT GBR
16 72 ELVIN Gracie ‘ ‘ OGE AUS
17 22 BLAAK Chantal ‘ ‘ DLT NED
18 13 BRONZINI Giorgia 11″ WHT ITA
19 41 *WEAVER Molly 17″ TLP GBR
20 5 CROMWELL Tiffany 20″ LPR AUS
General Classification Top Twenty
1 21 ARMITSTEAD Elizabeth 00″ DLT GBR 13h02’56”
2 83 MOOLMAN-PASIO Ashleigh 08″ CBT RSA 13h03’04”
3 15 LONGO BORGHINI Elisa 10″ WHT ITA 13h03’06”
4 91 VOS Marianne 15″ RBW NED 13h03’11”
5 71 SPRATT Amanda 17″ OGE AUS 13h03’13”
6 42 KIRCHMANN Leah 37″ TLP CAN 13h03’33”
7 16 PIETERS Amy 40″ WHT NED 13h03’36”
8 1 BRENNAUER Lisa 44″ LPR GER 13h03’40”
9 11 JOHANSSON Emma 46″ WHT SWE 13h03’42”
10 72 ELVIN Gracie 47″ OGE AUS 13h03’43”
11 43 *MACKAIJ Floortje 50″ TLP NED 13h03’46”
12 14 KING Danielle ‘ ‘ WHT GBR ‘ ‘
13 34 JASINSKA Malgorzata ‘ ‘ ALE POL ‘ ‘
14 24 VAN DIJK Ellen ‘ ‘ DLT NED ‘ ‘
15 25 HARRIS Nikki ‘ ‘ DLT GBR ‘ ‘
16 13 BRONZINI Giorgia 57″ WHT ITA 13h03’53”
17 5 CROMWELL Tiffany 01’10” LPR AUS 13h04’06”
18 41 *WEAVER Molly 01’41” TLP GBR 13h04’37”
19 23 *DIDERIKSEN Amalie 01’49” DLT DEN 13h04’45”
20 2 AMIALIUSIK Alena 01’57” LPR BLR 13h04’53”
Roll of Honor
General classification Aviva 21 ARMITSTEAD Elizabeth Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam GBR
Points Chain Reaction Cycles 91 VOS Marianne Raboliv Womencyclingteam NED
Queen of the mountain Strava 53 HALL Katharine Unitedhealthcare Pro Women Team USA
Best British Adnams 21 ARMITSTEAD Elizabeth Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam GBR
Best young Stoke-onTrent European City of Sports 43 MACKAIJ Floortje Team Liv – Plantur NED
Best Team Aviva Wiggle High
