Anna Henderson finds a loss to Kopecky "bittersweet" on a tour of British women's comeback

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Anna Henderson finds a loss to Kopecky "bittersweet" on a tour of British women's comeback

Made up of 4 riders from 6 different trade teams and selected for the Tour of Britain Women, the British national team were making their mark in a row in the race on Day 2. Lizzie Degunan (usually Riddle Trek) kept the Blue Mountain classification jersey, but it was time for Anna Henderson (usually Wisma Reese) to shine on the horseshoe pass.

Henderson was the only one who was able to follow the attack of Lotte Copecky (SD Worx-Protime) and eventually finished runner-up on stage and moved to second overall. The result is even more noteworthy because this is Henderson's first race after suffering a clavicle fracture in the Vuelta Femenina in late May 4.

"I'm really happy, I think bittersweet. I was super happy to go with Lotte and be the equivalent of her physically climbing. But I'm disappointed because I'm close to winning, but I'm happy with the second stage after a broken collarbone," the 25-year-old said.

Dignan took a point on the first classified climb, Aiton Hill, as well as in a Horseshoe pass where she was third on top, 15 seconds behind Kopecky and Henderson. The 35-year-old extended his lead in the QOM classification to 10 points for Kopecky and Henderson and 11 for Heidi Franz (Life Plus Wahoo).

"I knew there were two pretty hard climbs today, and I knew I had a good shot defending the jersey, and I

in the middle of the home race, the national team took 2nd and 5th place in the general classification in addition to holding the qom jersey. But their big goal was to win the stage.

"I think we can [do it]. We have a lot of power in the team and winning the stage as a team is a big ambition," Henderson said optimistically.

Saturday's Stage 3 with a start and finish at Warrington is the next opportunity for that, but perhaps to crack against the all-star SD Worx-Protime team

"I think tomorrow should be a sprint, and I think Lotte is comfortably leading." Now, I expect they'll probably go to Wiebes in the sprint, which means she's the fastest in the world and I think it's up to the rest of us to try to disrupt that plan," Deignan said.

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