Marianne Vos won a sprint finish to claim stage four of The Women's Tour ©Getty Images

Dutch rider Marianne Vos won a sprint finish to claim stage four of The Women's Tour today as Britain's Lizzie Armitstead retained the overall lead on home soil with just one day to go.

Rabo-Liv's Vos, the reigning Olympic road race champion who won the stage race in 2014, came home in 3hr 07sec after a 119.2 kilometre ride from Nottingham to Stoke-on-Trent.

The top 17 were all awarded the same time with home favourite Armitstead, the world road race champion who won stage three yesterday to claim the overall lead from Vos, finishing sixth on the penultimate leg.

The Boels–Dolmans rider's combined time of 13:02:56 means she is eight seconds clear of South African Ashley Pasio-Moolman and will be looking to seal the overall title tomorrow.

Vos is fourth, 15 seconds behind the Briton.

Lizzie Armitstead kept hold of the leader's yellow jersey
Lizzie Armitstead kept hold of the leader's yellow jersey ©Getty Images

Canadian Leah Kirchmann was second on the day, ahead of Emma Johansson of Sweden.

Sweden's Emilia Fahlin attempted a lone breakaway during the stage but was eventually caught by the pack, to set up the reduced sprint.

"We race as a team and we race aggressively, that's always our tactic," said Armitstead.

"From a team perspective we had a good race, I had good legs again on the climb."

The final stage of the International Cycling Union (UCI) Women's World Tour tomorrow will see the peloton travel 113.2km from Northampton to Kettering.