Lorena Wiebes' GC chances, opportunist riders and the defending champion – Tour of Britain Women contenders

After the excitement of the Tour de France Femmes, the Women's WorldTour continues this week with the Tour of Britain Women, in its new slot in the calendar, moved from June.

Wending its way from Cockermouth to Leamington Spa, the race's route is fairly sprinter-friendly again this year, but as usual mixes in the typically lumpy and heavy British roads that are never as flat as they look. The main GC day will come on stage 3 in North Wales, where the peloton will tackle a steep uphill finish atop The Great Orme in Llandudno.

Is The Great Orme hard enough to put the sprinters out of contention, though? Five years ago at the men's race, Wout van Aert beat Julian Alaphilippe and Michael Woods to the top, to give you an idea of its challenges.

That is the big question, and one we won't know for sure until Friday, but given the depth of the field and the riders who have won on the Great Orme before, it's not impossible that a sprinter could blitz the other stages and survive that climb to win the race overall.

That said, the overall victory in this race will be mainly about consistency: about those riders who can do a little bit of everything, no matter what is thrown at them, and finish in the top 10 on the majority of days.

A solo raid and a time grab could also be a path to victory, though the number of strong sprint squads on the start list probably counts against the likelihood of that happening.

Despite the proximity to the Tour de France Femmes, the Tour of Britain Women has attracted a really strong line-up this year, with plenty of riders fitting that consistent bill and able to battle for the overall title. Here is our pick of a few of the biggest names to watch in the UK this week.

Lorena Wiebes & Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime)

SD Worx-Protime are coming to the Tour of Britain Women with by far the strongest line-up, and multiple riders who could take the win. Tour green jersey champion Lorena Wiebes will be the pretty much untouchable favourite for any stage that ends in a sprint, which should be at least two of them if not four, particularly given Wiebes' ability to get over even some pretty difficult hills near the finish line.

The Great Orme is obviously her big challenge, and the day that will probably make or break her GC ambitions, but given it's only short – and remembering Wiebes' mega performance on day one of the Tour – she would absolutely dominate this stage, too.

If the Welsh climb does turn out to be a little too hard for Wiebes, Lotte Kopecky could step in as a worthy substitute, as in her role as final lead-out for Wiebes she should stay up there in the sprints, so a good finish on the Orme could put her in good stead overall. The Belgian had a fairly quiet Tour de France, but she will have a bigger role at the Tour of Britain Women and should be in a better position to race from the front a bit more.

And as if two favourites weren't enough, keep an eye on Mischa Bredewold too. She's fast in the sprints and a great, punchy climber, and has the astute racecraft to take any opportunities that come her way. The other teams will be trying to do everything they can to stop SD Worx, but given the riders they have here, I'm not sure they'll be particularly successful.

Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal)

Another rider who is heading to the UK hot off a brilliant Tour performance is Kim Le Court-Pienaar, who won stage 6 in France and will be eyeing up an overall victory here. The definition of a rider who can do it all, with a remarkably fast sprint for such a good climber, Le Court-Pienaar is well-suited to this week's parcours, and if she can stay up there in the first two stages she'll have a great chance to go for more over the weekend.

The Mauritian rider will be surrounded by a strong AG Insurance-Soudal line-up that includes Alex Manly and Gladys Verhulst-Wild, and looks primed to be able to make things hard for their rivals, which is exactly what Le Court-Pienaar will need to win.

She won't win in pure bunch sprints, but if she can whittle the group down or make things challenging in the hills, Le Court-Pienaar has a really good chance of taking not just stage wins but the overall title here.

Ally Wollaston (FDJ United-SUEZ)

Ally Wollaston will start with number one on her back as the defending champion, and rightfully deserves a spot on this list as a solid all-rounder, but the added difficulty of this year's parcours means it probably isn't quite suited to her as well as last year.

The New Zealand rider should do well on the flatter stages, but coming from the Commonwealth Games and track racing, her climbing legs might not be quite where she needs them to tackle the Great Orme. Wollaston loves a race like this, though, and will give it her all to try to defend her jersey.

Keep an eye on Kate Courtney at FDJ as she makes her WorldTour debut. The decorated mountain biker is still discovering where exactly her limitations lie on the road, and she will be going into this race with learning at the front of her mind, but that doesn't mean she can't get involved with the racing, too, and could definitely pull out a surprise performance.

Riejanne Markus & Fleur Moors (Lidl-Trek)

Similarly to SD Worx, Lidl-Trek come into this race with a whole host of riders who would do well. Clara Copponi is their main sprinter, but they seem to be gambling on some harder finishes, with Classics revelation Fleur Moors certain to light things up in the climbs, and Riejanne Markus a good shout for a solo attack.

Shirin van Anrooij and Margot Vanpachtenbeke are great opportunists, too – in fact, Lidl-Trek's whole team is super strong; it just remains to be seen if they can race the race how they want to, and disrupt the sprints that Wiebes and co will be hoping for.

Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team L'IMAD)

UAE Team L'Imad are probably the team with the best shot at beating Wiebes in a straight sprint, bringing Lara Gillespie as their main sprinter and one of the few people in the peloton who has even come close to Wiebes this year. However, their overall hopes may come elsewhere, with Karlijn Swinkels (third last year) headlining a strong group of contenders that includes Eleonora Gasparrini and Erica Magnaldi.

Swinkels is perhaps one of the most underrated riders in the peloton, but is amazingly consistent and good on all types of stages, which is exactly what you'll need to win here. She can sprint if she needs to, but you can also count on her to be right there if the race gets harder.

Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Nienke Veenhoven comes to this race as one of the more underrated sprinters in the women's peloton, but her talents and abilities are clear, with four wins to her name already this year and plenty of top-three finishes rubbing shoulders with the best sprinters.

She'll be relishing the chance to go up against Wiebes on the flatter days and test herself on The Great Orme. Her second place at the Baloise Ladies Tour last month shows that she can put together a good overall in a race like this, too, so she should be a solid contender for the top 10 or five.

Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM)

Lastly, the rider who beat Veenhoven at Baloise, Zoe Bäckstedt. The lack of time trialling at the Tour of Britain obviously makes it less suited to Bäckstedt than Baloise, but she's handy in the sprints and will have the benefit of racing at home – very close to home on the Welsh stages, in fact – meaning she knows the specific difficulties of racing on UK roads.

Bäckstedt has usually been seen as more of a Classics rider than a climber, but her heroic efforts on the final stage of the Tour de France Femmes underlined just how strong she is on any type of terrain, and should make her a surefire contender for a solid overall result here.

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