Kim Le Court sealed overall victory in the Tour of Britain Women in Royal Leamington Spa on Sunday, despite Lorena Wiebes taking her fourth sprint win in this year's race, marking the 11th stage victory of her career.
Wiebes surpasses Cavendish's record
Wiebes has now surpassed Mark Cavendish's career mark of 10 stage wins, holding the most victories of any rider competing in either the men's or women's Tour of Britain. The Dutch rider's performance across the week was a clear demonstration of her sprinting dominance.
Le Court, who won a stage and finished ninth overall in the Tour de France Femmes earlier this month, based her general classification success on a solo victory in Friday's uphill finish to the Great Orme, overlooking Llandudno. It was the most significant race victory of the Mauritian rider's career.
Le Court's redemption after past struggles
“This win is really special. This is my first general classification win and it is a first GC win for me in a team. People had questioned if I am a GC rider or not, and it is good to know that the mental state is still quite high and I’m glad I could achieve that for me and the team,” the AG Insurance Soudal rider said.
The 30-year-old has had a chequered past in the British race, but this year proved the strongest of the overall contenders. “I had a bad experience last year and I just wanted to redeem myself after that,” she said of her 2025 Tour of Britain, when she won the first stage, only to crash out of the race on day two.
“In 2015 I came here and I was dead last, so I didn’t have a good experience of the Tour of Britain in the past. I think the challenge is not to carry the form [from the Tour de France Femmes] but to carry the recovery process and make sure you are recovering mentally and physically, so you don’t burn out.”
Wiebes' sprinting prowess and second place
If Le Court was the best overall rider, then Wiebes’s four stage wins allied to second place overall – a matter of days after she won two stages in the Tour de France Femmes – were evidence of her status as the fastest sprinter in the Women’s World Tour.
“It feels pretty good because last year we expected way more from the Tour of Britain, but this year it was really successful,” the Dutch rider said. “I’m happy to finish this week off with four victories, and the team worked hard for it.”
Wiebes, who is fast becoming more than simply a fast finisher, admitted that the overall classification was not her ambition but added: “When I crossed the finish line on stage three and was still third on GC, I knew we could fight for second.”
Final stage drama and Le Court's resilience
The final stage was characterised by a resilient three-rider breakaway that built a lead approaching two-and-a-half minutes until the climbs of Sun Rising Hill and Burton Dassett took their toll and the chasing field picked up speed.
Sara Martín, of Movistar, British rider Alice Towers and Eva van Agt, teammate to the 2026 Tour de France Femmes winner, Demi Vollering, at FDJ United-Suez, slipped clear with 110km to race and worked well to distance the peloton.
However, in a frenzied final 20km, their advantage was steadily eroded as the peloton accelerated on the approach to the Warwickshire spa town. Even with under 5km remaining the trio still led by half a minute but they were finally reeled in with barely a kilometre to race, as Wiebes once again moved ahead of her peers to claim another success.
Le Court, who was placed in an induced coma as a child due to malaria, is one of cycling’s great survivors and has shown immense resilience to become one of the world’s top riders. She has now worn the yellow jersey in the Tour de France Femmes, won stages in both the Tour and Giro d’Italia, the coveted classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège and has now added the overall title in the Tour of Britain to her résumé.
