Ruth Winder seals overall victory at Women's Tour Down Under 2020

Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo) avoided any mishaps to seal the overall victory on the final stage four Adelaide circuit at the Women's Tour Down Under 2020.

She beat Sunweb's Liane Lippert by five seconds with Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott) in third, six seconds down. The Australian, who took stage two, has won the overall victory every year since 2017.

Italian Simona Frapporti (Bepink) took the stage four victory, beating Lauren Stephens (TIBCO-SVB) and Rushlee Buchanan (New Zealand) in the sprint from the breakaway of 12 who came home ten seconds ahead of the main field.

Those with GC ambitions had contested the first two intermediate sprints, picking up bonus seconds to tighten the gap at the top but this expenditure of energy allowed the breakaway to escape up the road. They were nearly brought back in multiple times but did just enough to compete for the stage victory amongst themselves.

Sunweb won all of the other classifications, finishing as the best-placed team as Leah Kirchmann took the sprinter's jersey and Liane Lippert won the youth and KoM classifications.

After her victory was confirmed, Winder said: "It feels pretty crazy to win the Tour Down Under. Sunweb and Mitchelton-Scott really put us under pressure. I’m really happy to pull it off. I’m still really excited after the stage I won yesterday. It’s such an incredible feeling. It’s not a single person’s sport. For every win, you need a strong team. I wish my team-mates could accompany me on the podium."

Results

Women's Tour Down Under 2020: Stage four, Adelaide to Adelaide (42.5km)

1. Simona Frapporti (Ita) Bepink, in 58-32

2. Lauren Stephens (USA) TIBCO-SVB

3. Rushlee Buchanan (Nzl) New Zealand

4. Leigh Ann Ganzar (USA) Rally Cycling Women

5. Jaime Gunning (Aus) Specialized Women's Racing

6. Katia Ragusa (Ita) Astana

7. Brodie Chapman (Aus) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope

8. Jessica Pratt (Aus) Canyon SRAM Racing

9. Georgia Williams (Nzl) Mitchelton-Scott

10. Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Alé BTC Ljubljana, all at same time

Final general classification

1. Ruth Winder (USA) Trek-Segafredo, in 10-11-07

2. Liane Lippert (Ger) Sunweb, at five seconds

3. Amanda Spratt (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott, at 6s

4. Lauren Stephens (USA) TIBCO-SVB, at 17s

5. Chloe Hosking (Aus) Rally Cycling Women, at 30s

6. Leah Kirchmann (Can) Sunweb, at 32s

7. Andrea Ramirez (Mex) Agolico, at 33s

8. Katia Ragusa (Ita) Astana, at 34s

9. Jessica Spratt (Aus) Canyon SRAM Racing, at same time

10. Peta Mullens (Aus) Roxsolt Attaquer, at 35s