The 2025 Tour of Britain Women truly came down to the wire. It wasn’t until the very last moment that the large crowds gathered on Glasgow Green knew that FDJ-Suez’s Ally Wollaston had done enough in the final sprint to snatch the overall win away from Cat Ferguson (Movistar).
Wollaston came into the final stage with a three-second deficit to the 19-year-old Brit. She defeated her rival in each of the three intermediate sprints on the circuit-style course around Glasgow to level things up, before coming round Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto) at the very last to take the final place on the podium and four all-important bonus seconds to take her first every WorldTour stage race victory.
The closeness of the battle made for a tense day, both had a mixture of nerves and confidence on the morning of the final stage, but it was FDJ-Suez who managed to put their plan into action best of all.
“I'm so, so, so happy,” Wollaston told Cycling Weekly after pulling on the race’s final green leader’s jersey.
“I knew it was a lot to pull off today, winning three sprints and having to still get seconds in the final. I knew the race really had to go my way today. I'm so, so immensely grateful for my teammates for making it pan out that way. I really couldn't have done that on my own out there today.”
Indeed, Wollaston’s team-mates guided her expertly, never missing a beat on the technical final kilometre of each of the 10km laps. However it was Wollaston herself who had to use her track prowess to overcome a rider in Ferguson who had defeated her in a sprint less than 24 hours earlier.
“If you looked at every sprint that I did well in today, I was never isolated,” Wollaston added. “I had a teammate going into the last corner every single time and it made a world of difference.”
“The bottom corner was only 150 metres to go. So yeah, you just had to be there first, really - first or second. My team did such an amazing job.”
Wollaston had been quietly effective throughout the race, never initiating her own attacks but being present in every move that mattered.
The multiple-times track world champion was pleased not to be in Ferguson’s position ahead of the final stage and preferred to be the hunter, rather than the hunted.
“I struggled so, so much yesterday, especially in the final. I was a little bit nervous coming into today, for sure.”
“Often a lot of the times on the track, I race best in omniums when I'm not leading from the front and I think I found it super motivating today not having to defend the win. I find it a lot easier on the mind chasing rather than defending.”
“I find it quite stressful and a lot of pressure defending a win. So it was a great position for me to be in this morning. I think it worked out perfectly.”
