2026 Tour of Britain Women – Stage 5: Wiebes outshines even Cavendish with her fourth victory

Le Court had won the only stage on which Wiebes did not triumph, thereby building up a sufficient lead to win by 19 seconds ahead of Wiebes. Lippert finished third, 24 seconds behind.

The fact that Wiebes still had the chance to fight for victory – and thus second place in the overall standings – after 124 kilometres around the English spa town of Royal Leamington Spa was down to the chasing efforts of her team, who only caught the day’s breakaway riders 1,300 metres from the finish. Earlier in the stage, on two climbs, Lippert and Le Court had tried to shake Wiebes off, but had failed to do so. Wiebes’ four wins from five stages are a record on the island.

Just like the eleven victories she has now racked up across all editions of the Tour of Britain. That’s more than any other woman – and more than any other man in the same event. In doing so, she has surpassed the previous record-holder, Mark Cavendish. “It’s always a good feeling; winning feels good, so I’m delighted to round off the week with four victories,” she said. “This year, however, has been a resounding success, and we can be really pleased with that.”

Le Court was also delighted with her result – her first ever stage race victory. “This victory means a great deal to me and the team. I was here in 2015 and finished last, so I hadn’t had any good experiences with the Tour of Britain in the past. This is my third attempt, and I’ve said that if I ride a good Tour and finish with a win, I wouldn’t come back – but that’s just for the sake of saying it. You never know, and we’ll see what next year brings.”

On the final day, alongside Le Court, Wiebes (points classification), Lauren Dickson (FDJ United - SUEZ / mountains classification) and Fleur Moors (Lidl - Trek / young rider classification) also defended their jerseys.

2026 Tour of Britain Women – Results of Stage 5

Here’s how Stage 5 of the 2026 Tour of Britain Women unfolded

After an initial breakaway attempt was quickly thwarted, a trio broke away on their second attempt. Eva van Agt (FDJ United – SUEZ), Sara Martín (Movistar Team) and Alice Towers (British national team) built up a lead of up to three minutes at one stage.

On this largely flat stage, things only started to get a bit lively when the first significant climb appeared on the route 40 kilometres from the finish. A nine-man group led by Wiebes, Le Court and Lippert managed to open up a gap of a few seconds there. However, the gap was not sustainable. The breakaway’s lead suffered as the pace was stepped up.

A 25-strong main group rode the final climb of the day, covering 30 kilometres, but nobody was able to break away from it due to the high pace. Nevertheless, even after the group had swelled in size, the chasers struggled to catch the breakaway riders who were still in the lead. It was only 1,300 metres from the finish that the group came together. Then Wiebes did what she does best: sprint and win.