Tayler Wiles (UnitedHealthcare) avoided a late-race crash among her breakaway companions to take the stage 5 win Monday at the Lotto Thuringen Tour in Germany.
Wiles escaped the group with teammate Ruth Winder and stage 4 winner Lauren Stephens (Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank), with Winder and Stephens opening a slight gap before the final corner just 25 metres from the line. When Stephens and Winder hit the deck on the rain-slicked cobbles in the corner, however, Wiles had room to slip through and take the win.
"We worked together and then Lauren Stephens attacked with 800 meters to go and Ruth jumped on her," Wiles said. "The last few corners were pretty tough being wet cobbles, and unfortunately they both came down just before the line and I just made it around them. A bitter sweet way to win as I'm hurting for Ruth, but thankfully she is okay.
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"This win is for Ruth and the rest of the team who have fought so hard at this race and always believed in me," Wiles said. "I couldn't have done it without them."
The field, which was immediately behind the lead trio, didn't have Wiles' luck and got tangled up in the melee. Ellen Van Dijk of the Dutch National team avoided the crash and finished second, one second behind Wiles. Leah Thomas (US National Team) was third.
Van Dijk's stage result moved her to within 14 seconds of overall leader Lisa Brennauer (Canyon-SRAM) going into Tuesday's final stage. Hayley Simmonds (Team WNT Pro Cycling) is third overall, 29 seconds back.
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