Britain’s Lizzie Deignan claimed her first victory since returning from maternity leave in Friday’s fifth OVO Energy Women’s Tour stage in Builth Wells to move into the race lead with just one stage remaining.

A packed finish line at the Royal Welsh Showground in Llanelwedd saw Deignan, the race’s 2016 champion, out-sprint Thursday’s stage victor Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing) and her Trek-Segafredo team-mate Elisa Longo Borghini after the trio broke clear on the day’s final SKODA Queen of the Mountains climb of Eypnt with approximately 22 kilometres remaining.

"I can’t quite really describe it; it was probably the nicest win I’ve had in a very long time. I really savoured it and really enjoyed it and I will do for a long time,” said Deignan, after taking her first win in 657 days.

The Yorkshire rider leads Niewiadoma by just one second going into Saturday’s finale in Carmarthenshire. In addition to retaining her lead in the HSBC UK | British Cycling Best British Rider jersey, Deignan also moves to the top of the standings in the Breast Cancer Care points jersey.

Niewiadoma’s efforts on the climbs see her take the lead in the SKODA Queen of the Mountains jersey, while 2018 overall champion Coryn Rivera (Team Sunweb) retains the Eisberg sprints jersey.

Overnight race leader Liane Lippert (Team Sunweb) finished 22nd, losing two minutes 19 seconds to fall away in the overall classification and lose her OVO Energy green jersey.

The German had been in the main pack featuring all of the general classification contenders approaching the final SKODA Queen of the Mountains climb of Epynt, before the race was sparked into life by the aggressive riding of Trek-Segafredo duo Deignan and Longo Borghini.

That saw the final two riders from the day’s breakaway, Erica Magnaldi (WNT – Rotor Pro Cycling) and Amalie Dideriksen (Boels Dolmans Cycling Teeam), get reeled in. The leading group then splintered significantly en route towards the Royal Welsh Showground, with 20 twenty riders reaching the finish within two minutes of the Deignan.