Leah Thomas wins Tour de l'Ardeche

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Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) won the final stage at the Tour de l’Ardeche in Privas. The cyclo-cross world champion won from a solo breakaway, crossing the line 47 seconds ahead of runner-up Jeanne Korevaar (Liv Racing) and 1:03 ahead third placed Lucy Kennedy (Team BikeExchange).

Leah Thomas (Movistar) finished fourth on the day and sealed her overall victory at the seven-day race. The American all-rounder won the title ahead of Mavi Garcia (Ale BTC Ljubljana) and Ane Santesteban (Team BikeExchange).

“Having to defend a jersey with such a small gap, even if there were no bonus seconds at the finishes, makes you learn a lot about how to keep things under control. It wouldn’t have been possible without the help of every single teammate who were here with me at the race," Thomas said, who led the race for five stages, and gave one leader's jersey to each of her teammates upon the conclusion of the event.

"Everybody actually gave everything they had to make this result possible, and that was the most special feeling, and really gave me motivation to make sure we kept it until the very end.

“I can’t stress enough how much this was a team effort. The lucky thing about having to defend a jersey was the fact that I had enough jerseys to give one to each of them. I wrote a special note for each, about how they really made this week a success. I hope that shows them appreciation for all the sacrifices they have done.”

Stage 7 of the Tour de l’Ardeche offered the field three ascents across 82km from Le Pouzin to Privas. The climbs were Col de Fontenelle (10.4km at 5 per cent), Mirabel (2.3km at 6 per cent) and Cole de Benas (10.6km at 4.4 per cent).

The decisive breakaway include Brand, Kennedy and Korevaar, who held a more than one-minute lead on the field over the second ascent, Mirabel, with roughly 30km to go. Of the breakaway riders, Korevaar was the highest placed on GC, at 2:03 behind Thomas, but Movistar kept the gap at a manageable 1:50 before bringing it back down.

Brand attacked the breakaway and descended solo through the final 10km into Privas to take the stage win, while Korevaar finished second and Kennedy third. Thomas finished in fourth as riders crossed the line in groups of ones and twos, and she secured the overall victory at the Tour de l'Ardeche.

“I think one of the best parts about this week was when Pablo really kept us calm and really made sure we were patient and got our team together, so we never were isolated. Obviously, it would have nice not to have that break up the road, but there were a bunch of attacks, and we were killing ourselves trying to keep them from going, and eventually it was better to let Korevaar go, and control from behind. When she went, we waited for a couple of minutes for the team to get together, set a good pace and kept the gap under control," Thomas said.

“Sheyla and Paula did a fantastic job setting a hard pace over the vast majority of the final climb. Over the top it was more open and windy, and Mavi did a first attack - obviously, it was my job to cover, and I covered that one, but eventually, one of Mavi’s further attacks stuck, and I just couldn’t quite close the gap. It was a long descent, and with the confidence I had, I knew I had a chance to bring it back. It was about maintaining that close gap and making sure I didn’t go too much into the red over the top of the climb."