OVO Energy Women's Tour: Niewiadoma wins stage 4

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Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) won stage 4 of the OVO Energy Women's Tour that ended with a steep hilltop finish at Burton Dassett Country Park. Niewiadoma attacked on the first of three ascents of the finishing climb together with Liane Lippert (Team Sunweb) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), bridging to the early break.

Despite being caught by a small group on the final lap, Niewiadoma made another move on the last kilometre, and only Lippert was able to follow. Niewiadoma won the stage ahead of Lippert, putting the two riders at exactly the same overall time, but Lippert took the race lead on countback.

The fourth stage of the 2019 OVO Energy Women's Tour was the longest stage in the race's history at 158.9 kilometres. Starting in Warwick, the stage included two intermediate sprints and four category-two QOMs, Sun Rising Hill and three ascents of Burton Dassett.

Sarah Roy (Mitchelton-Scott) was the first rider to get away after 30km. Ten kilometres later, Femke Markus (Parkhotel Valkenburg) and Charlotte Becker (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) went after the Australian, bridging to her after 56 km.

The three escapees rolled through the two intermediate sprints, with Roy first through both ahead of Markus and Becker. The peloton seemed happy with the situation, allowing the trio to extend their advantage to a massive 8:20 minutes with 84 km to go before starting the chase.

At the foot of Sun Rising Hill with 39km to go, the gap had been reduced to about four minutes. On the climb, Becker couldn't follow the pace of Roy and Markus, leaving two riders in the lead. The peloton also split into three groups, the first of which was 2:40 minutes behind at the top.

Roy and Markus still lead at the first passage of the finish line atop the Burton Dassett climb, with two laps of 12.5 km to go. Longo Borghini had attacked from the peloton, taking Niewiadoma and Lippert with her. They overtook Becker just after the QOM sprint, and at the 20-kilometre mark, the three chasers were 36 seconds behind the front duo, with the first peloton at 1:05 minutes.

Niewiadoma, Longo Borghini, and Lippert went past Roy and Markus on the second ascent of Burton Dassett, but the peloton was only 25 seconds back by this point. A group of around 25 riders caught the lead trio within the final ten kilometres, setting the stage for a sprint up the short, but steep finishing climb.

Niewiadoma and Lippert were the fastest up the hill, opening a seven-second gap to third-placed Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo). Green jersey Lisa Brennauer (WNT-Rotor) finished eighth, another four seconds further back, meaning that Lippert moved into the race lead on the same time as Niewiadoma, but with lower combined stage placings.

Deignan is still the best British rider, now third overall with a three-second deficit going into Friday's queen stage, 140 km through Mid Wales including two first-category climbs. Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) picked up six mountain points during the stage to just defend her black jersey against Niewiadoma, D'hoore continues to lead the points classification. Coryn Rivera (Team Sunweb) remains the leader of the intermediate sprint classification, Sarah Roy won the day's combativity award.

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