Lorena Wiebes won stage 5 of the 2026 Lloyds Tour of Britain Women in Royal Leamington Spa, taking her fourth stage victory of the race as Kim Le Court-Pienaar sealed the overall title.
The SD Worx-Protime sprinter won another reduced bunch sprint after a long three-rider breakaway was caught inside the final 1.5 kilometres. Lara Gillespie finished second for UAE Team L’IMAD, with Chiara Consonni third for Canyon SRAM after Zoe Bäckstedt had led her onto the finishing straight.
Wiebes’ victory also moved her up to second overall, ahead of Liane Lippert, but Le Court-Pienaar finished safely in the front group to complete the biggest stage race win of her career. After winning on The Great Orme and defending her lead through the final two stages, the AG Insurance-Soudal rider finished the race 19 seconds ahead of Wiebes, with Lippert third at 24 seconds.
A final day around Warwickshire
The final stage started and finished in Royal Leamington Spa, with 123.8 kilometres through Warwickshire and 1,386 metres of climbing.
The route first headed north past Kenilworth Castle, then turned south via Wellesbourne and Shipston-on-Stour before the late climbs gave the general classification riders one last opportunity to test Le Court-Pienaar. Sun Rising Hill and Burton Dassett Hills Country Park were the two obvious points of pressure before the fast finish beside Jephson Gardens.
Le Court-Pienaar began the day in the leader’s jersey with a 24-second advantage over Lippert and 29 seconds over Wiebes. That made the stage awkward for AG Insurance-Soudal, but not unmanageable. The climbs were steep enough to create nervousness, yet far enough from the finish that the race could still come back together if the sprinters’ teams remained organised.
For Wiebes, the equation was different. She could no longer realistically win the overall without a major collapse from Le Court-Pienaar, but the stage win, points classification and second place overall were all still within reach.
Early attacks are quickly shut down
The first attacks came almost immediately.
Margot Vanpachtenbeke went clear for Lidl-Trek after less than 5 kilometres, with Julia Borgström of Hitec Products-Fluid Control and Morven Yeoman of DAS-Hutchinson quickly joining her. That move did not last long, but it set the tone for a final day where several riders were willing to take risks before the GC and sprint teams could settle.
The more serious break formed soon afterwards. Eva van Agt of FDJ United-Suez and Alice Towers of the Great Britain national team went clear before Sara Martín bridged across for Movistar with 97 kilometres still to race.
That trio immediately gave the stage its main storyline. Van Agt, Towers and Martín had enough strength to work well together, and with the GC teams initially focused on controlling rather than chasing aggressively, their advantage began to grow.
Van Agt becomes a virtual threat
The breakaway’s gap rose above 2 minutes and eventually reached around 2:40, enough to make Van Agt a virtual danger to the general classification.
At the intermediate sprint at Frizz Hill, just outside Wellesbourne, the three leaders still held just over 2 minutes on the peloton, where AG Insurance-Soudal were setting the pace for Le Court-Pienaar. That was not panic territory, but it was enough to keep the race alive.
As the stage entered the final 50 kilometres, more teams came to the front. UAE Team L’IMAD, Canyon SRAM, Team Picnic PostNL and Liv AlUla Jayco all had reasons to keep the race within reach, either for the sprint or to protect riders high in the overall standings.
Even then, the break did not fold. At the foot of Sun Rising Hill, the gap was still around 2:40, and the leaders were riding with enough cohesion to make the peloton work properly.
The race sharpens on Sun Rising Hill
Sun Rising Hill was the first major late test and the moment when the final day began to look less like a standard sprint stage.
The pace increased sharply in the peloton, and a small group containing Wiebes, Le Court-Pienaar and Lippert briefly opened a gap. That was important because it showed two things at once: Lippert still wanted to test the race leader, and Wiebes was again climbing well enough to stay involved.
The move was not sustainable, but it put pressure on the breakaway’s lead and began to reduce the peloton. Riders who had been comfortable on the flatter sections were forced to fight for position before the final climb.
For Le Court-Pienaar, this was exactly the kind of moment she needed to handle. She did not need to attack. She simply had to avoid being isolated, follow the right moves and prevent Lippert from creating a meaningful gap.
She managed that cleanly.
Burton Dassett gives the break one last chance
The breakaway still had more than 2 minutes in hand over the top of the final climb at Burton Dassett Hills Country Park, with 30.6 kilometres remaining.
That gave Van Agt, Towers and Martín a genuine chance of reaching the finish. The climb had not broken them, and the remaining road into Royal Leamington Spa was fast enough that a committed trio could still make the peloton hesitate if the chase lacked organisation.
Behind, the front group had been reduced, but not enough to destroy the sprint teams’ plans. Around 25 riders came over the final climb in the main selection, with Le Court-Pienaar, Wiebes and Lippert all safely present.
No decisive GC attack came on Burton Dassett. The pace was high enough to hurt the bunch, but not varied enough to allow one rider to break clear. That suited Le Court-Pienaar. Every kilometre after the final climb reduced the chance of a genuine overall threat.
For the breakaway, though, the hardest part was still to come.
SD Worx-Protime drive the chase
Once the race came off the final climb, SD Worx-Protime began to commit fully for Wiebes.
The gap was still around 1:30 with 20 kilometres remaining, and the leaders continued to ride well. At 10 kilometres to go, they still had more than a minute, making the catch far from automatic.
That was the point when the sprinters’ teams had to decide whether they were really willing to take responsibility. SD Worx-Protime could not afford to wait too long, and other teams also joined the chase, including Human Powered Health, as the stage win began to move back within reach.
The breakaway was starting to show fatigue, but it still took a sustained chase to bring them back. Van Agt, Towers and Martín had spent most of the stage out front and still resisted deep into the final kilometres.
Their effort deserved more than a simple footnote. The sprint only happened because the chase was executed late and hard.
Break caught inside the final 1.5 kilometres
The catch finally came with 1.3 kilometres remaining.
That was brutally late for the breakaway and perfectly timed for the sprinters. Van Agt, Towers and Martín had taken the stage almost to the flamme rouge, but the speed of the bunch in the final run-in finally overwhelmed them.
The final kilometre was technical and briefly split the peloton. That made positioning even more important than usual. Canyon SRAM were in the right place, with Bäckstedt bringing Consonni onto the finishing straight and giving the Italian a real chance to contest the win.
But Wiebes had found the correct wheel.
After a week in which she had already won three stages, survived The Great Orme and battled through the hilly Welsh finale, she was still exactly where she needed to be when the sprint opened.
Wiebes wins by several bike lengths
Wiebes launched from Consonni’s wheel and immediately created daylight.
There was no hesitation and no real contest once she hit top speed. Gillespie came through quickly to take second, pipping Consonni at the line, but neither rider could get close to Wiebes once the SD Worx-Protime sprinter had launched.
The victory completed an extraordinary week. Wiebes won stages 1, 2, 4 and 5, with only Le Court-Pienaar’s attack on The Great Orme preventing a clean sweep of stage victories.
This was also her 11th career stage win at the Tour of Britain Women. More importantly for this race, it secured the points classification and gave her the bonus seconds needed to move ahead of Lippert into second overall.
Wiebes had said after stage 4 that the overall win was out of reach but that the GC podium remained a target. In Royal Leamington Spa, she achieved that and added another stage win at the same time.
Le Court-Pienaar finishes the job
Le Court-Pienaar’s final stage was not about winning the sprint. It was about defending the overall title.
She did that with control. AG Insurance-Soudal handled the early part of the chase, kept the gap to the breakaway under observation, and made sure their leader reached the late climbs in position. When the road became harder, Le Court-Pienaar followed the right riders and never allowed Lippert to create the separation she needed.
The final sprint result did cost her bonus seconds to Wiebes, but the overall cushion was big enough. She finished the race 19 seconds clear, having built the decisive advantage with her solo win on The Great Orme and then defended it across two aggressive stages.
It was her first overall stage race victory, and a significant moment after a season in which she had already shown her strength at the Tour de France Femmes.
Le Court-Pienaar’s race was not based on one lucky day. She won the queen-stage finish, took bonus seconds when they mattered, stayed alert through the Welsh hills and then controlled the final Warwickshire stage without panic.
Wiebes moves to second overall
Wiebes’ 10 bonus seconds for the stage win changed the final podium.
She began the day third overall, 5 seconds behind Lippert and 29 seconds behind Le Court-Pienaar. By winning in Royal Leamington Spa, she moved ahead of Lippert and finished second overall at 19 seconds.
That was a major reward for the way she rode the whole race. It would have been easy to frame her Tour only through sprint dominance, but her GC result came because she survived the harder stages better than most pure sprinters would have done.
She limited her losses on The Great Orme, stayed in the decisive reduced group into Hay-on-Wye, and then finished the job on the final day. Four stage wins from five is already a remarkable total. Second overall makes it even more impressive.
Lippert finished third overall at 24 seconds, having repeatedly tried to pressure Le Court-Pienaar on the hillier terrain. She did not win a stage and lost second overall on the final bonus sprint, but her consistency kept Movistar on the podium.
Gillespie and Consonni take sprint podiums
Behind Wiebes, Gillespie produced one of the best sprint results of her race to take second place.
The UAE Team L’IMAD rider timed her final surge well and came past Consonni at the line. After a week where UAE had repeatedly placed riders near the front, second on the final stage was another strong result, even if Wiebes remained out of reach.
Consonni had the benefit of a strong Canyon SRAM lead-out, with Bäckstedt doing important work in the final kilometre. Third place was still a good return, but once Wiebes launched from her wheel, the win disappeared quickly.
Bäckstedt herself finished fourth, underlining Canyon SRAM’s strength in the final. Pfeiffer Georgi was fifth, ahead of Josie Nelson, Nienke Veenhoven, Caroline Andersson, Millie Couzens and Maggie Coles-Lyster.
The top 10 reflected the nature of the stage: a sprint result, but from a race that had been made selective by late climbs, a long breakaway and a technical final kilometre.
Classification jerseys confirmed
The final day also confirmed the other classification winners.
Wiebes took the points classification after four stage wins and consistent sprint scoring across the race. That was never seriously in doubt once she had dominated the opening two stages and then added further victories in Hay-on-Wye and Royal Leamington Spa.
Lauren Dickson completed the mountains classification for FDJ United-Suez. Her work across the Welsh stages, including the points she collected before crashing on stage 4, gave her enough of a cushion to carry the jersey safely to the finish.
Fleur Moors won the young rider classification for Lidl-Trek after an aggressive and mature race. Her long breakaway on stage 4 was one of the performances of the week and gave real substance to the white jersey, rather than simply making it a classification won by consistency.
Le Court-Pienaar, Wiebes, Dickson and Moors gave the final podium ceremonies a clear shape: overall control, sprint dominance, mountains consistency and a young rider willing to animate the race.
A Tour defined by Wiebes and Le Court-Pienaar
The 2026 Lloyds Tour of Britain Women ultimately belonged to two riders.
Wiebes dominated the stage count, winning four of the five stages and proving almost unbeatable whenever she reached the finish in contention. Her victories were not all the same either. Cockermouth and Blackpool were more conventional sprint finishes, Hay-on-Wye came after a hard hilly day, and Royal Leamington Spa required a late chase and perfect positioning after the break survived deep into the finale.
Le Court-Pienaar won the race because she changed the terms of the Tour on The Great Orme. That stage gave her the jersey, but her defence afterwards was just as important. She handled Lippert’s attacks, watched Wiebes’ bonus threat and reached the final stage with enough of a cushion to absorb one last sprint victory from the Dutch rider.
That balance made the race more interesting than the stage count alone suggests. Wiebes was the dominant winner of days. Le Court-Pienaar was the winner of the week.
Royal Leamington Spa brings the race to a sharp finish
The final stage could easily have become ceremonial, but it did not.
Van Agt, Towers and Martín forced the peloton into a real chase. Sun Rising Hill and Burton Dassett made the GC riders stay alert. The breakaway survived until 1.3 kilometres to go. Canyon SRAM then tried to turn the final kilometre into Consonni’s sprint, only for Wiebes to use that lead-out and win again.
For Le Court-Pienaar, the final kilometres were about confirmation. For Wiebes, they were about completing one of the most dominant stage-winning performances the race has seen.
The result was a fitting end to the 2026 Lloyds Tour of Britain Women: the overall winner safe, the best sprinter in the race still unstoppable, and the final stage decided only after the breakaway had taken the peloton to the edge.
Lloyds Tour of Britain Women 2026 stage 5 result
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Lloyds Tour of Britain Women 2026 final general classification
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