Photo gallery: the toughest Women's Tour yet

With its hoards of fans, good publicity and five days of hard, exciting racing, the OVO Energy Women’s Tour of Britain is an absolute highlight on the women’s calendar. This year was no exception.

The only UCI Women’s WorldTour event in June, the peloton enjoyed a little break since the Amgen Breakaway from Heart Disease Women’s Race Empowered by SRAM, riders were raring to go.

The Women’s Tour is a big target for many riders and the competition was fierce. The competition combined with the long stages, challenging terrain and poor weather made this edition of the Women’s Tour the hardest one yet, which was a treat for the fans and a test for all participants. But throughout it all, fans of all ages braved the weather and lined the streets of England everywhere the tour went.

“[Today was]one of the hardest races I’ve done in my life,” said Niewiadoma after working hard to defend her lead ahead of the final stage.

WM3 Pro Cycling’s Kasia Niewiadoma took the lead after throwing a gutsy attack on day one, soloing off the front and into the winds for a good 45 kilometres. Her courageous move and hard effort proved to be the race-defining moment. She crossed that finish line with a 1’42” lead, which would be challenged for the next four days to come. But while the runner-up general classification spots changed names several times, the Polish champ and her WM3 team successfully defended their lead day in, day out, until the crystal trophy was finally theirs.

A battle for second ensued between the Boels-Dolmans, Sunweb and Canyon-SRAM teams, and wasn’t decided until the very last, fast and furious metres of the final stage in the heart of London. In the end, it was Luxembourgian Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) who walked away with second and two jerseys, coming out on top of the sprinter’s and the points classification.

British champ Hannah Barnes fought hard throughout the tour, netting two second-places finishes while battling for the Best British Rider honour with her younger sister, Alice. Wearing the British red-white-and-blue striped national champion’s jersey for one last race before the 2017 national championships, Hannah had an impressive ride to secure third place in the GC, while also earning a combativity award and the pink Best British Rider jersey.

“It’s definitely been the hardest [OVO Energy Women’s] tour thus far,” Hannah told CyclingTips. “I think the length of the stages caught all of us out. You could tell that there were a lot of tired legs…Sometimes long stages create negative racing, but the racing [here] has been really, really hard despite the length, so it’s been really good.”

We followed Hannah throughout the tour, and you can read up on her reports as well as each coverage for each stage, here:

Stage 1: Doing it for Grandma
Stage 2: So close!
Stage 3: Crashes, chaos and disappointment
Stage 4: GC shake-up in penultimate stage
Stage 5: Champagne for Grandma

Stage 4: Chesterfield > Derbyshire - Stage Result

Saturday 10th June 2017

1.	ROY Sarah Orica - Scott	03:27:48
2.	MAJERUS Christine Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team	0:01
3.	KIRCHMANN Leah Team Sunweb	0:05
4.	BASTIANELLI Marta Alé Cipollini	0:17
5.	BARNES Hannah Canyon SRAM Racing	-
6.	BRONZINI Giorgia Wiggle High5	-
7.	MANLY Alexandra Orica - Scott	-
8.	VAN DIJK Ellen Team Sunweb	-
9.	BRAND Lucinda Team Sunweb	-
10.	DE VUYST Sofie Lares-Waowdeals Women Cycling team	0:22

1.	NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna WM3 Energie	15:06:31
2.	MAJERUS Christine Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team	1:25
3.	KIRCHMANN Leah Team Sunweb	1:36
4.	VAN DIJK Ellen Team Sunweb	1:38
5.	BARNES Hannah Canyon SRAM Racing	1:41
6.	BARNES Alice Drops	1:46
7.	MOOLMAN PASIO Ashleigh Cervélo-Bigla Pro Cycling	1:52
8.	LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup Cervélo-Bigla Pro Cycling	1:58
9.	KING Danielle Cylance Pro Cycling	1:59
10.	LONGO BORGHINI Elisa Wiggle High5	2:00

1.	CORDON RAGOT Audrey Wiggle High5	00:00:00
2.	BRAND Lucinda Team Sunweb	-
3.	NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna WM3 Energie	-
4.	GILLOW Shara FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope	-
5.	LONGO BORGHINI Elisa Wiggle High5	-
6.	JASINSKA Małgorzata Cylance Pro Cycling	-
7.	MOOLMAN PASIO Ashleigh Cervélo-Bigla Pro Cycling	-
8.	LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup Cervélo-Bigla Pro Cycling	-
9.	VAN DIJK Ellen Team Sunweb	-
10.	MAJERUS Christine Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team	-

1.	MAJERUS Christine Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team	00:00:00
2.	BARNES Hannah Canyon SRAM Racing	-
3.	NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna WM3 Energie	-
4.	VAN DIJK Ellen Team Sunweb	-
5.	BARNES Alice Drops	-
6.	BRONZINI Giorgia Wiggle High5	-
7.	PIETERS Amy Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team	-
8.	ROY Sarah Orica - Scott	-
9.	HOSKING Chloe Alé Cipollini	-
10.	KIRCHMANN Leah Team Sunweb	-

1.	Team Sunweb	45:25:06
2.	Boels - Dolmans Cycling Team	0:14
3.	Cervélo-Bigla Pro Cycling	0:29
4.	Canyon SRAM Racing	0:32
5.	Cylance Pro Cycling	1:01
6.	FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope	1:17
7.	Wiggle High5	1:40
8.	Orica - Scott	9:20
9.	Alé Cipollini	14:11
10.	Drops	18:38

Photographers were out in force to capture the action, enjoy a glimpse of the five-day tour below.

: Banners and plenty of fanfare greeted the peloton for every departure at the OVO Energy Tour. Connolly provided live commentary.

: British national champion Hannah Barnes signs in.

: At the start of the race, a minute’s silence was held for the victims of the London Bridge terror attack.

: Even the race couldn’t escape the current events ongoing in England.

: School kids got to skip school for a few hours and lined the streets wherever the tour visited.

: “I expected somebody to join me, unfortunately I was alone and I was thinking ‘Oh no, there’s 50km to go, there’s a lot of wind, there are hills!’ I wasn’t sure if I could gain a lot of seconds but I was really motivated to keep pushing,” said Niewiadoma. She would finish solo with a 1’42” gap on the pack.

: In the lead since day once, there was plenty of champagne to uncork for the young Polish champion.

: Crowds awaited the peloton wherever they went.

: Boels-Dolmans sprinter bested them all in a technical stage 2 finish.

: Alice Barnes (Drops Cycling) tucks the team presentation trinket into her back pocket.

: Undulating roads and tough weather made for a tough penultimate stage.

: Fans, good racing and respect. The Women’s Tour is quickly becoming the best women’s race on the calendar.

: With its length stages and plenty of uphill, many considered the 2017 OVO Energy Women’s Tour the hardest one of its editions yet.

: Marianne Vos hit the deck in the closing kilometre of Women’s Tour stage 3 and had to abandon the race with a broken clavicle.

: The crowds and number of young fans make the Women’s Tour a rider favourite.

: Riders fly by on their way to Stoke-on-Trent in stage two.

: Chantal Blaak doing some work on the front for her Boels-Domans team during a very wet stage 2

: Aussies Sarah Roy (left) and Shara Gillow (right) spent much of stage four in a breakaway together. Roy would come out ahead, giving Orica-Scott their first Women’s WorldTour win of 2017.

: Orica-Scott’s Sarah Roy spent most of stage four in a break before she outsprinted her breakaway companions for the win.

: After winning the penultimate stage, Sarah Roy had an unfortunate crash. After posting up in a victory salute, her front tyre caught an edge and Roy tumbled to the ground. She received a medical check-up but was OK.

: The Women’s Tour aims to raise awareness about breast cancer. All riders received ribbons with a note from a cancer survivor.

: Hannah Barnes (Canyon-SRAM) ties her pink ribbon to her bike. “It was poem about a diagnosis and having the strength to battle on,” Barnes told Ella CyclingTips.