4 Women’s Tour Stage 1  | Kettering, England  |  7 June

It’s not so much that there was suspense all the way to the line for the opening stage of the Women’s Tour in England; it’s more that the main field just didn’t get it together in time to stop one of the overall victory in one of the biggest races of the year vanishing out of reach in the opening hours of action.

With 50 kilometers to race on one of the season’s longest days, Polish champion Kasia Niewiadoma (WM3) gambled on someone coming with her to share the workload.

Getting a break established is one thing, but you have to finish it off. With the might of Boels-Dolmans, Wiggle-High5 and sprinters’ teams like Alé Cipollini and Sunweb behind, it seemed inevitable that the Pole’s gamble would end in heroic failure. And yet, Boels-Dolmans could only slice a little over a minute off Niewiadoma’s three-minute lead, possibly worrying about Marianne Vos countering if they closed the Polish rider down.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVDEVMvBahI/

Normally, the finish in Kettering is a peculiar one for the soigneurs and team staff: the riders hit the finish and sweep round a right-hand corner, so everyone’s looking at each other wondering who has won. You wait for the squeal of brakes and the screams of delight as team-mates find each other. When Niewiadoma took the victory and came grinning into view, the result was known, but we waited a long, long 1’ 46” before anyone else appeared. It was a mighty victory.