Grace Brown (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) is equal on time with Stage 5 winner Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) but held onto the overall race lead by virtue of her superior finishing positions to date.
The Australian battled up the final climb of Black Mountain, successfully neutralising the attacks that came from her rivals despite being without teammates from the early slopes. The 29-year-old accomplished that task, but didn’t have quite as much punch as her rivals in the sprint, with Elisa Longo Borghini taking the win ahead of Kasia NIewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) who herself sits just two seconds in arrears of the race lead.
" Today was really a beautiful day in the leader's jersey," said Brown. "A break went away in the hard first part of the race when we were a bit vulnerable, but the team came back together and did an amazing job to manage the time gap.
" It was really an honour to ride behind my team-mates while they worked hard for me. I felt strong in the final climb and was able to follow the attacks, but made some small mistakes in the run to the line."
Brown moved into the lead by virtue of cumulative finishing positions over the five stages to date, 24 positions ahead of Longo Borghini. Niewiadoma actually holds a 26 position advantage on Brown, so if they had finished on the same time then the Polish star would be ahead.
" 3rd on the stage means I'm now equal with Elisa Longo Borghini on time, but I retain the lead," said Brown. "So we have another good fight to come tomorrow !"
A 142.5-kilometre stage to the finish in Oxford would normally be a straightforward affair for a race leader, the climbing section of the stage is at the start, with the second half of the route almost entirely flat and lending itself to being controlled relatively easily.
Women's Tour Stage 6 profile 2022.
The first intermediate sprint comes after the hardest climbing of the day, with 54 kilometres of the route covered into the town of Carterton, while the second comes with 123 kilometres covered into Burcot. Each intermediate sprint awards three seconds for the first rider over the line, two seconds for second, and one for third.
The hillier run into the first sprint will likely provoke some aggression from Trek-Segafredo and Canyon-SRAM to see if they can catch Brown on a bad day, but it’s also a moment where they’ll have to be attentive to shut down any breakaways as if riders slip up the road, they’ll take the bonus seconds on offer.
The race should be more straightforward from there on, with the teams of the riders that aren’t in the overall lead after the first intermediate likely to work to keep the race together for 70 kilometres time.
It’s possible that the race will come all the way down to the final sprint, it is almost certain to mathematically, with ten, six and four seconds available for the first three finishers.
While Brown, Niewiadoma and to a lesser extent Longo Borghini have decent sprints, they will be outmatched by the pure fast women here. Certainly, Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) has shown herself to be the fastest woman here, but if something odd happens like the crash on the first stage, or perhaps crosswinds spring up, then that final dash to the line could decide The Women’s Tour.
The Women's Tour continues tonight via SBS On Demand, with coverage of the sixth and final stage commencing at 7:55pm (AEST).
