Australian champion Ruby Roseman-Gannon delivered the smiles on a dramatic final stage of the women’s Tour of Britain, winning the stage for Liv AlUla Jayco in a tight photo finish into Manchester.
The final four kilometres of the race saw the team’s blood pressure rise as general classification hopeful, Letizia Paternoster, faced an untimely puncture as she sat in third place overall with a final podium finish the squad’s goal.
A quick reaction from the car encouraged Roseman-Gannon to turn her attention to challenging for the stage victory herself, forcing the 25-year-old to remain focused and forget Paternoster’s drama.
Lotte Kopecky opened up the sprint and in a tight lunge for the line in the pouring rain, it appeared as though Christine Majerus had won. The rider from Luxembourg raised her arm to the air and after a tedious wait, a photo finish revealed that Roseman-Gannon had in fact lunged across the line first to take a spectacular win.
The victory makes it the Liv AlUla Jayco rider’s first UCI WorldTour victory after a lot of close calls throughout the 2023 season, providing a dream end to an eventful day and four-day race, leaving the team with a lot to celebrate.
Due to the untimely puncture, Paternoster subsequently dropped two places down the overall classification to a respectful fifth place overall. After four days of selfless teamwork and a collective group performance, the team look back on the event with great satisfaction having claimed second place on the opening stage in a tight photo finish with Paternoster, fourth place on stage two, third-place on stage three with Georgia Baker plus today’s victory with Roseman-Gannon.
Ruby Roseman-Gannon – 1st stage 4
“I just can’t believe it. Today the plan was to go for Letizia, to really race aggressively and try and take some seconds back, to go to second place, maybe for the win overall with her. We had a really good team ride withTeniel Campbellabsolutely smashing that first climb, I was actually struggling and then full commitment into the next climb and some selections made. We really wanted to get Letizia up there but unfortunately it just panned out as a full bunch sprint and then she got a puncture so really didn’t go to plan.
I asked the directors whether I should go back and wait for her to help and they said, ‘no just focus on the finish’ and that’s what I did. I just still can’t believe that I won that. It is crazy, it’s my first European win. I’m still in shock.”
Megan Chard – Sport Director
We are very happy with the result of today’s stage but of course it is mixed emotions. Our goal was to have Letizia move up on the GC and go for the stage result with her. We wanted to make the race attritional from the first QOM and we executed this really well. Georgia and Teniel were able to set the girls up well on the first climb and it did a lot of damage. Amber [Pate] and Ruby were great support for monitoring the moves and making sure we were always in control. Unfortunately Letizia punctured with four kilometres to go and was chasing until the end and it resulted in us losing our podium on GC. Fortunately, Ruby was able to take this opportunity with both hands and take the win on the day!”
2024 Tour of Britain – Stage 4:
1. Ruby Roseman-Gannon 2:37:51
2. Christine Majerus ST
3. Lorena Wiebes St
2024 Tour of Britain – Overall GC:
1. Lotte Kopecky 13:03:40
5. Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco) +0:40
Photo: Sprint Cycling
