Elisa Longo Borghini set up a thrilling finale to the Women’s Tour as she sprinted clear to win stage five atop the Black Mountain in Carmarthenshire.
The Italian attacked with 150 metres to go to hold off Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma with Grace Brown in third.
Longo Borghini, a two-time Olympic road-race bronze medallist, drew level on the same time as Australian Brown at the top of the general classification.
The race concludes with a 142.9km route from Chipping Norton to Oxford.
Becky Storrie was the highest placed British rider, finishing 21 seconds adrift of Longho Borghini in ninth.
The Trek-Segafredo rider, 30, timed her final effort to perfection on the gruelling 7.2km climb to the finish, which reached a 21% gradient in places.
However, as a result of bonus seconds available on the line, Brown retained the leaders’ jersey, with Niewiadoma now two seconds adrift of the leading pair.
Sixteen bonus seconds are available on the final stage, which contains two intermediate sprints.
Stage five result
1. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita/Trek-Segafredo) 3hrs 01mins 49secs
2. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon/SRAM Racing) Same time
3. Grace Brown (Aus/FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope)
4. Kristen Faulkner (US/BikeExchange-Jayco)
5. Alexandra Manly (Aus/BikeExchange-Jayco)
6. Ashleigh Moolman (SA/SD Worx) +6secs
7. Riejanne Markus (Ned/Jumbo-Visma) +19secs
8. Veronica Ewers (US/EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) Same time
9. Becky Storrie (GB/CAMS-Basso) +21secs
10. Sofia Bertizzolo (Ita/UAE Team ADQ) +23secs
General classification after stage five
1. Grace Brown (Aus/FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) 15hrs 40mins 56secs
2. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita/Trek-Segafredo) Same time
3. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon/SRAM Racing) +2secs
4. Alex Manly (Aus/Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +20secs
5. Ashleigh Moolman (SA/SD Worx) +28secs
6. Elise Chabbey (Swi/Canyon/SRAM Racing) +45secs
7. Kristen Faulkner (US/Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +50secs
8. Veronica Ewers (US/EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) +1min 41secs
9. Sofia Bertizzolo (Ita/UAE Team ADQ) +1min 46secs
10. Mikayla Harvey (NZ/Canyon/SRAM Racing) +1min 52secs
