Lotto Ladies Tour (st. 4)

Polish allrounder up to 7th overall, on the attack at spectacular Steile Wand climbs alongside González and Biannic; Frenchwoman at front until last 8km. Teruel still leads under-23 classification.

German timetrialist Lisa Brennauer (WHT) won into a big bunch’s sprint at the end of stage four in the Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour, over 188km in and around Gera. The race was full of battles until the final, nine-kilometer loop around the finish, splits which the Movistar Team always made an active part of.

???? Spectacular – this is how the race got through the rain-soaked cobbles of Steile Wand, a brutal ascent during stage four of the @LottoLadiesTour. #RodamosJuntos #LTLT18 pic.twitter.com/uBnDL8YtP9

— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) May 31, 2018

Alicia González was the most courageous Blue rider into two early moves, a 19-rider attack followed by a dangerous, 16-woman acceleration, just over the grueling, steep, cobbled Steile Wand hill, together with Malgorzata Jasinska and Aude Biannic. The Frenchwoman kept a further selection alive with four other competitors and was only caught at the first passage through the finish.

Neither of the moves stuck -the last one being a powerful duo with Alice Barnes (CSR) and Lucinda Brand (SUN)- as ‘Jasi’ took 8th at the sprint, with Teruel -11th today; stays as under-23 leader-, González (12th) and Biannic inside that first group. The Polish allrounder, who took a 3″ bonus during the day, now sits 7th overall before a potentially decisive stage five on Friday’s tough finishing Dörtendorf climb (last kilometer at 9%).