Alexis Ryan sprinted to fourth place in the penultimate stage of Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour in Weimar, Germany. The stage was won by tour leader Lucinda Brand (TFS).

For the second consecutive day teammate Lisa Klein was in the breakaway of the day. Lisa and Chantal van der Broek-Blaak led the race for more than 100 kilometres. After the duo were caught within the final twenty minutes of racing, Alexis was determined to make it to the sprint finish despite the climbs at the end of the race.

“When I realised we were going to catch Lisa, I knew that I was going to give it everything over the climbs to make it to the sprint,” said Alexis.

“There was a split over the QOM on the last lap that I was behind, but I had Tiff, Ella, and Hannah with me to pace back. Unfortunately, no one could follow Lucinda’s attack over the final climb; she was in a league of her own. Tiff helped chase in the last kilometres while I surfed wheels.”

“I launched my sprint with about 150m to go. I’m disappointed to just the miss the podium again, but I’m not disappointed about the performance. I gave it everything I had and came up short. It’s motivation to work harder and be smarter!” explained Alexis.

Ahead of tomorrow’s final stage, Tiffany Cromwell remains seventh on the general classification, now 58 seconds behind today’s stage winner and overall leader Brand. Ella Harris holds her third position in the mountain classification, while Hannah Ludwig and Neve Bradbury maintain their respective third and fourth place on the youth classification.

The sixth and final stage is 97.8km around the city of Gotha with a stage start of 11:00CEST. Racing action can be followed on Twitter with #LTLT21 and delayed highlights are broadcast on GCN+ and MDR Thüringen here.

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