American cyclist Evelyn Stevens has claimed the Women’s Tour of New Zealand by a mere one second, while New Zealander Linda Villumsen won the final stage with a solo ride.

Stevens (Team USA) pipped Shara Gillow (GreenEdge-AIS) for the title after having started the day with a 5sec advantage over the Australian.

Villumsen (GreenEdge-AIS), in her first event for her new new Australian team, ended the 119km fifth stage around Palmerston North 1min 55sec ahead of her closest pursuers.

Both Gillow and Stevens finished in the peloton, with Gillow’s third placing worth a 4sec time bonus, leaving her just short of the title.

Stevens, who crossed the line immediately behind Gillow, praised the work of her colleagues over the week.

“Team USA rode like bulls,” she said. “It was incredible.”

Two other Australians, Taryn Heather (Team Jayco-AIS) and Joanne Hogan (VIS), were third and fourth overall, at 13s and 22s down.

The leading New Zealander on general classification was novice rider Reta Trotman (BikeNZ), who was fifth in her first international race, just 27s behind Stevens.

Trotman’s team-mate Kaytee Boyd, won the Queen of the Mountain title.

On the final stage, a strong early break that included German world time trial champion Judith Arndt (GreenEdge-AIS) and Olympic time trial gold medallist Kristin Armstrong (Team USA) opened out a 3min gap.

The leaders were caught at the 60km mark by a group of three riders, among them Villumsen, who then attacked and was able to stay in front over the remainder of the journey.