Kim Le Court-Pienaar sprints to third place in Blackpool

Kim Le Court-Pienaar continued her strong start to the Tour of Britain Women with a third-place finish on stage two in Blackpool.

The second stage took the peloton over 110.5 kilometres from Clitheroe to Blackpool and proved to be an animated day of racing. After 36 kilometres, the race was neutralised following an incident further ahead on the course. This resulted in a delay of around 30 minutes before the peloton was able to resume racing.

Once the race restarted, the action quickly picked up again. Several attacks followed as riders tried to make the most of the rolling terrain, but the peloton eventually came back together ahead of the fast finale towards the British coast.

In the closing kilometres, the team did everything to position Le Court-Pienaar in the best possible spot for the sprint along Blackpool’s seafront. She finished off the teamwork with a strong sprint to third place, securing her first podium of this year’s Tour of Britain Women.

“We tried to step out of my comfort zone a little today by going for the sprint,” Le Court-Pienaar said. “Initially, we also wanted to fight for some bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint, but unfortunately those were taken out.

For the GC, we’re taking it day by day. Of course, we want to get the best possible result by the end of the Tour, but we don’t want to look too far ahead. We’ll focus on each stage, keep working well together as a team and try to get the best result possible every day.”

The focus now shifts towards Friday's third stage, which takes the peloton from Mold to Llandudno. With a demanding finale on the Great Orme, the stage is expected to provide the first major test for the general classification contenders.