Barnes 4th on Stage One in Great Britain

Alice Barnes sprinted to fourth place in todayโ€™s opening stage of the Womenโ€™s Tour in Bury St Edmunds, Great Britain. The CANYON//SRAM Racing rider positioned herself in the final kilometres into a technical finish and was able to avoid a late crash to finish behind stage winner Clara Copponi (FDJ).

Alice explained, โ€œOur team plan focused on putting myself in a good position for the final roundabout. We had a long break in the race and I thought the stop-start might not suit me. But when we restarted I felt okay and we decided to stick to the plan.โ€

โ€œMy teammates tried to help me and we had aimed to be patient, but I was blocked to get to them, so I made the choice to go alone. I was able to find my way close to the front before the roundabout but I have to admit weโ€™d already been slipping a lot all day on the wet roads and that didnโ€™t give me a lot of confidence. The riders ahead of me took the left-hand corner too hot and crashed. I was able to find my way through and did my best in the final 100m,โ€ added Alice.

With Aliceโ€™s fourth place, she takes the lead in the Best British Rider classification and goes into tomorrowโ€™s second stage in ninth place overall, +10 seconds behind tour leader Copponi. Teammate Elise Chabbey is placed second in the mountain classification after being led out by teammates Tiffany Cromwell and Kasia Niewiadoma to take points in the two classifications.

Elise said, โ€œIt was the plan I would go for those classifications if I was in position. In reality, they werenโ€™t really hills but more like a sprint. Iโ€™ll see how I feel and if Iโ€™m in position maybe Iโ€™ll try to go for it again in the next stages but for sure itโ€™s not the main goal for the team.โ€

HOW TO FOLLOW

The Womenโ€™s Tour can be followed on Twitter with #WomensTour. Each stage is broadcast live on GCN, Eurosport Player and SBS with details below.

Stage 2 | Tuesday 7 June | 92.1km | Harlow โ€“ Harlow | Race start 11:00BST | Broadcast 12:30-13:45BST.

Stage 3 | Wednesday 8 June | 107.9km | Tewkesbury โ€“ Gloucester | Race start 11:00BST | Broadcast 12:30-14:15BST.

Stage 4 | Thursday 9 June | 144.7km | Wrexham โ€“ Welshpool | Race start 11:00BST | Broadcast 12:30-15:30BST.

Stage 5 | Friday 10 June | 106.6km | Pembery Country Park โ€“ Black Mountain | Race start 11:00BST | Broadcast 11:30-14:40BST.

Stage 6 | Saturday 11 June | 142.9km | Chipping Norton โ€“ Oxford | Race start 11:00BST | Broadcast 10:55-15:15BST.

Source

Mathew Mitchell
Mathew Mitchellhttp://procyclinguk.com
My name is Mathew Mitchell, 30-something from Staffordshire, UK. Over the last few years, I've got more and more into cycling, from the first innocent Sportive events to Audaxes, Go-Races, British Cycling racing, Time Trials and now Cyclocross.

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