Watch: V-Women’s Tour - stage three

1. Use play icon at top of the page to watch live
2. Virtual race on the RGT Cycling platform
3. Final day of three-day event
4. Riders face 35 laps of 1km circuit around Canary Wharf

Stage Two: Dixon climbs to victory

V-Women's Tour

Leah Dixon's moment of glory captured on screen

Wales’ Leah Dixon led a Team Tibco Silicon Valley 1-2 with Lauren Stephens in the second stage of the V-Women’s Tour in a hilltop finish in virtual Burton Dassett to take the overall lead of the three-stage race.

Kristen Faulkner almost locked out the podium for Tibco but was pipped to third place by the Isle of Man’s Lizzie Holden.

Stephens had led the break in the second of three ascents, going clear of the initial 10-racer breakaway group, and Dixon followed carrying out the team’s pre-race plan almost to the letter.

“It was just the perfect race,” said Dixon afterwards. “We had talked about it on the team call beforehand. We thought we could whittle the group down a bit on the first lap, and then on the second lap we would try and go hard to reduce the group further.”

The win put Dixon out in front of the general classification by 21 seconds from team-mate Faulkner with Holden in third ahead of Friday’s final stage, a 35-lap race of London’s Canary Wharf.

Results and standings

Stage Two result

1. Leah Dixon (GB, Tibco SV Bank) 54 mins 10.508 secs
2. Lauren Stephens (US, Tibco SV Bank) +09.235
3. Elizabeth Holden (Iom, Bizkaia Durango) +21.735
4. Kristen Faulkner (US, Tibco SV Bank) +22.009
5. Lizzy Banks (GB, Bigla Katusha) +24.089
6. Krista Doebel-Hickok (US, Rally) +41.270
7. Illi Gardner (GB, Cams-Tifosi) +46.597
8. Sarah Storey (GB, Team Storey) +47.158
9. Dani Christmas (GB, Lotto Soudal) +55.524
10. Katie Scott (GB, Cams-Tifosi) +01:55.867

Classification

1. Leah Dixon 1hr 49mins 2.2 seconds
2. Kristen Faulkner +22.0 secs
3. Elizabeth Holden +22.9
4. Lizzy Banks +00:24.3
5. Illi Gardner +46.5
6. Sarah Storey +48.7
7. Dani Christmas +55.4

What is the V-Women's Tour?

The Women’s Tour is a virtual stage race set up to replace the on-road Women's Tour that was cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. It will run for three days so you will still see a winner of each stage, and an overall leader.

Just as in the real world Women’s Tour, a rider's cumulative time across the three stages will be their overall time. There are also no time bonuses, so creating time gaps over your rivals will be crucial.

There is one crucial difference: each team do have the ability to make one replacement during the three stages, in case of injury or illness, or if a rider suffers technical issues that stops them taking part. Any replacement rider on days two or three will be automatically placed at the back of the General Classification standings, with a 20 second time penalty.

Women's Tour

What are the routes on the V-Women's Tour?

There will be three different stages and routes on the Women's Tour:

Stage one - the opening stage will consist of 38.7 kilometres using the closing stages of the final stage from the 2014 Women’s Tour into Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.

Stage two - the second stage replicates the finishing circuit of 2019’s hilltop finish at Burton Dassett in Warwickshire, with three ascents of the 1.7 kilometre climb that averages 4.9% during the 35.4 kilometre stage.

Stage three - the tour finishes with a fast paced criterium around the world famous business district of Canary Wharf in London. Riders will face 35 laps of the one kilometre circuit, as used to conclude the inaugural race.

RGT Cycling

Who will be competing in the V-Women's Tour?

There will be 18 different teams competing in the Women's Tour including Great Britain, Team Breeze and Storey Racing.

Nine-time Paralympic gold medallist Dame Sarah Storey will compete alongside former double Junior World Champion Lucy van der Haar.

US National road race champion Ruth Winder will line up for Trek-Segafredo while the GB and Team Breeze line-ups will be youthful but features Megan Barker, sister of Elinor Barker and Jenny Holl, a European Championship silver medallist in 2019. Holl and Team Breeze's Amelia Sharpe both performed well in test event last week.

You can see the full list of competitors here.

Women's Tour

How can I watch the V-Women's Tour?

BBC Sport will have live coverage from all three stages of the Women's Tour.

Coverage will be available live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app and available to catch up for 30 days.

Full coverage details:

Stage three - Friday 19 June, 19:00-20:00 BST