Seventh for Roy in Women’s Tour stage four sprint finale

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Seventh for Roy in Women’s Tour stage four sprint finale

Australian champion Sarah Roy was in the mix once again at the Women’s Tour as stage four came down to a bunch sprint in Southend.

Team BikeExchange had looked to animate the race with Janneke Ensing going on a solo attack midway through the 118km stage. However, despite opening up an advantage of more than 30 seconds, there was no escaping the peloton today.

Several attacks followed with Jess Allen, Ane Santesteban and Teniel Campbell all trying their luck, but the bunch raced into town all together with a sprint finish on the cards. Roy battled for position with Campbell for company inside the final kilometres before launching her sprint for seventh behind winner Lorena Wiebes.

Sarah Roy:
“It was a very fast run to the line today. From about 15km to go it really picked up and the speed kept increasing. With about 3km to go there was a short descent and I had been managing my position pretty well before then and through that section into the final very tight corner 1.5km to go.

The long straight was scattered with little islands in the middle of the road that made the sprint quite hectic. I had Teniel take the wind for me from just after the corner to about 800 metres to go and from there I wasn’t able to move up any further as some other teams came up the other side.

I did what I could in the last 100 metres to get the best place possible. All of this came after the whole team had been really active all day. Both Ane and Janneke had created some really strong breaks. Jess and Teniel were busy themselves in a lot of moves, and I had also tried to be aggressive before we decided to focus on the sprint.

Although we leave with another underwhelming result I’m really proud of our team ride today, backing each other up and pushing our individual limits and personally, I feel really positive about the next two stages.”

2021 Women’s Tour Stage 4 – Results:
1. Lorena Wiebes 2:54:43
2. Chiara Consonni ST
3. Chloe Hosking ST
7. Sarah Roy (Team BikeExchange) ST

Photo Courtesy of Getty Sport.

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