Pillar's Women's ToB Daily Updates - Stage 4

7th October 2021

Shoeburyness → Southend-on-Sea

Yesterday's Stage:

Demi Vollering of Team SD Work dominated the 16.6km course in Atherstone to win the first-ever time trial in the Women's Tour race history. The Dutch rider put in a convincing stage victory finishing over a minute quicker than her nearest rival. World Hour Record holder Joss Lowden of Drops-Le Col s/b Tempur finished second place, 1:04 minutes down on the winner. The Canadian rider Leah Kirchmann of Team DSM finished third place, just a second behind Lowden. Vollering's impressive ride now means she's the overall race leader. After yesterday's stage, there were also changes to the GC, Juliette Labous and Clara Copponi now sit second and third place, respectively.

Yesterday's stage showed a strong performance by many of the British riders, with five riders finishing in the top ten (Lowden - 2nd, Alice Barnes - 4th, Abi Smith - 7th, Anna Shackley - 9th, and Hannah Barnes - 10th). The Brits are also showing a strong presence in the GC with Joss Lowden currently in sixth place, Alice Barnes in eighth place, and you Brit Pfeiffer Georgi in tenth place.

Today's Stage:

Stage four will see the riders tackle a flat 117.5 kilometre route from the start in Shoesburyness, through the rural roads of Essex before reaching the finishing line along the seafront of Southend-on-Sea. The riders will only face one categorised climb on today's stage. The Hambro Hill climb is 4.9 kilometres long with a peak gradient of 12.8 %. How today's stage is ridden will be heavily dependent on the weather, with the exposed open roads, there’s a strong possibility of crosswinds which could make this stage extremely difficult for the rides, yet fascinating for the spectators. With a punchy climb with 13 kilometres remaining from the finish, this could be the perfect opportunity for an ambitious attempt to take the stage win, or even for the GC contenders to gain time on their rivals. Today could be an opportunity for the GC contenders that lost time in yesterday's time trial to gain back time.

Jess Finney: our eyes in the peloton

Stage 3 Post-Race Thoughts:

“It’s a strange feeling doing an ITT after two hectic days in a peloton. The buzz of the bunch is suddenly gone and becomes an almost lonely feeling in the race. I was pretty anxious about today, with a difficult few days beforehand and doing my TT on a road bike. My focus was just making the time cut. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the TT, but actually, the course was great fun with lots of twisty corners and country lanes. I think this helped me a lot and gave me more of a chance – I think I would have been in trouble on a flat 10. I’m happy that I made the time cut and can continue on this story. Although today was another eye-opener in that I need to take TT more seriously both in technique and training in order to be at the World Tour Level”

Stage 4 Pre-Race Thoughts:

“Tomorrow is a flat stage near the coast and therefore the potential for some cross-winds to make the day difficult. However, the forecast looks reasonably settled and therefore the wind should not be too much of a factor, making it a relatively straightforward day. I don’t really know what to expect in terms of racing. I don’t think the racing will be as aggressive as it has been over the last few days due to GC being a bit more settled and not as many points for Mountains and Sprints classification on offer.”

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