Grace Brown (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine-Futuroscope) finished outside the top 10 in the decisive bunch sprint in Oxford, losing her lead in the women's Tour in the last few meters of Saturday's stage.

Brown's main overall contender, Elisa Longo Borghini, sprinted to third place on the stage, earning a four-second bonus second.

After winning the first intermediate sprint and taking a 3-second lead over Longo Borghini, who was in fourth place, Brown said she thought the lead was safe. His teammate Copponi finished second.

"I thought the final was safe as long as there were no gaps, but it was a real mess. Trek did a great leadout to put Elisa in a really good position just before the corner. As a result, she was able to join the battle for third place.

Although she finished 12th ahead of Copponi, Brown was not completely eliminated in the sprint and was caught in the mix on the run-in to downtown Oxford.

"The finish was technical and I knew I had to be in a good position. The finish was technical and I knew I had to be in a good position. Elisa [Longo Borghini] made the most of it."

Brown won the fourth stage in Gloucester and enjoyed the yellow leader's jersey for two days.

"There is still some consolation for the rest of the race," he said.

"Today's race was close, and there was a chance that I wouldn't finish in the jersey, but I'll take it.

"When I gained a few seconds in the sprint I thought maybe I had it already and I'm disappointed to have lost it, but overall I'm very happy with the week."

Teammate Copponi, who scored his first professional win in the first stage and finished second in the final stage on Saturday, echoed the mixed feelings of the FDJ team.

"I'm pretty sad because we missed out on the overall win, but I'm proud of the team," Copponi said. It's been a very good week." Just sad for Grace and the team. There is still a lot of racing to go.