Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Le Court won a stage of this year's Tour de France Femmes
ByMatt WarwickBBC Sport Senior Journalist- Published23 minutes ago
Kim Le Court of Mauritius won stage three of the Lloyd's Tour of Britain Women to the Great Orme to move into the overall leader's green jersey.
The AG Insurance-Soudal rider powered away from rivals with three kilometres to go on the winding final climb in Llandudno, north Wales after a 104.7km race from Mold.
Le Court, 30, finished 13 seconds ahead of Germany's Liane Lippert of Movistar with Sweden's Caroline Andersson of Liv Alula Jayco a further seven seconds down in third.
Le Court now leads the overall general classification by 26 seconds over Lippert with the Netherlands' Lorena Wiebes in third, 35 seconds behind.
Le Court led the race last year until crashing heavily in the rain on the second stage from Hartlepool, but this year showed prowess in pulling away strongly from the rest of the field in dry conditions.
"You can never be too confident," said Le Court. "Last year I took the green jersey on day one then on day two I crashed out, so we'll keep our head on our shoulders and keep fighting until the end."
The first two stages of the race were won by the world's best sprinter Wiebes, who dominated both fast finishes.
The SD Worx-Protime rider, however, lost the overall lead once the race finished on the Great Orme - a iconic part of Tour of Britain history.
Wiebes, 27, also lost the red points jersey to Le Court but held on well to finish just 42 seconds down to Le Court on the day.
The blue queen of the mountains jersey was claimed by Britain's Lauren Dickson of FDJ United-Suez, who now leads the competition by 12 points.
Belgium's Fleur Moors of Lidl-Trek remains in the white young rider's jersey.
Tarling death shows risks of smaller races - Vaughters
- Published3 days ago
'Fury' at Tarling death as cycling union calls for better helmets
- Published5 days ago
Women's cycling could be unstoppable - Backstedt
- Published2 days ago
The race made it to Wales on high emotion and under great scrutiny over safety following the death of Fin Tarling a week ago during the Volta a Portugal.
Welshman Tarling, 19, was hit by a van which had strayed onto the course.
His older brother Josh will take part in the three-week Vuelta a Espana Grand Tour for Netcompany Ineos which begins on Saturday.
On the first stage, O'Shea Red Chilli rider Maeve Plouffe posted on social media that "there were cars from the general public coming at me from all directions, including one that nearly hit me on a roundabout".
But the Australian also praised the overall organisation of the the race.
Saturday's penultimate stage four is a hilly 138.3km race to Hay on Wye on the Welsh-English border, which sees a fast finish if the sprinters can make it over the climbs first.
Image gallerySkip image gallery
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, A dog belonging to Britain's Imogen Wolff sits in wait for the Visma-Lease a Bike rider to arrive on the Great Orme
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, 
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, 
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, 1 of 4
Previous imageNext imageSlide 1 of 4, Britain's Imogen Wolffs dog, A dog belonging to Britain's Imogen Wolff sits in wait for the Visma-Lease a Bike rider to arrive on the Great OrmeEnd of image galleryTour of Britain Women stage three results
1. Kim Le Court (Mar/AG Insurance-Soudal) 2hrs 46mins 10secs
2. Liane Lippert (Ger/Movistar) +13secs
3. Caroline Andersson (Swe/Liv Alula Jayco) +20secs
4. Femke de Vries (Ned/Visma-Lease a Bike) +21secs
5. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den/Cayon-Sram) +23secs
6. Lauren Dickson (GB/FDJ United-Suez +26secs
7. Mischa Bredewold (Ned/SD Worx-Protime) +28secs
8. Karlijn Swinkels (Ned/UAE-L'IMAD) same time
9. Eleonora Gasparrini (Ita/UAE-L'IMAD) +32secs
10. Lorena Wiebes (Ned/SD Worx-Protime) +37secs
Tour of Britain Women general classification standings after stage three
1. Kim Le Court (Mar/AG Insurance-Soudal) 10hrs 18mins 26secs
2. Liane Lippert (Ger/Movistar) +26secs
3. Lorena Wiebes (Ned/SD Worx-Protime) +35secs
4. Caroline Andersson (Swe/Liv Alula Jayco) same time
5. Femke de Vries (Ned/Visma-Lease a Bike) +40secs
6. Karlijn Swinkels (Ned/UAE-L'IMAD) +42secs
7. Mischa Bredewold (Ned/SD Worx-Protime) same time
8. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den/Cayon-Sram) same time
9. Lauren Dickson (GB/FDJ United-Suez +45secs
10. Eleonora Gasparrini (Ita/UAE-L'IMAD) +51secs
