Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) powered to a third stage win at the Tour of Britain as he dominated the bunch sprint in Northampton city centre on stage five.
A three-man breakaway of Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Rasmus Pedersen (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Matt Holmes (Great Britain) were caught just a few hundred metres from the line as a messy sprint unfolded.
Pedersen impressively took fifth place despite his exploits in the breakaway, while Ethan Vernon (Israel Premier-Tech) was once again denied a win, finishing third behind Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility).
But Magnier, who launched a long-range sprint on the awkward uphill finish, was unstoppable and celebrated with his jubilant team-mates after the stage.
“I enjoyed it a lot!" the 20-year-old, who is in his first season as a pro, said afterwards. "It was really hard to catch the break, Remco [Evenepoel] did everything, he’s a super fast rider as you know. Julian [Alaphilippe] brought me every time to the front and I saved a lot of energy there, and in the end I did my best, sprint for the victory.”
The young Frenchman enters the Tour’s final stage as red-hot favourite to equal the record of four wins in a single edition, which fellow sprinter Olav Kooij achieved last year.
“Why not?” he said. “We’ll try, for sure. It’s already super nice to take three victories, but for sure tomorrow we’ll try to go again.”
HOW IT UNFOLDED
It was a grey but blissfully dry start to the day at the University of Northampton’s Waterside Campus. The riders rolled out on a 146.9km loop starting and finishing in the city and tackling some bumpy terrain before flattening out for another expected bunch sprint.
Heading west from Northampton, the spiky first half of the route included the race’s final two KOM climbs, two category 3s in quick succession at Newnham Hill and Bulshill.
The pace was high from the start as a multitude of riders shot off the front, with Ineos Grenadiers’ Connor Swift among those making an early bid for freedom.
He formed a strong trio with Matt Holmes (Great Britain) and Danish national champion Rasmus Pedersen, and the three built up a 47 second advantage before the first climb. Israel Premier-Tech, the team of race leader Stevie Williams, were in prime position to suffocate any further attacks.
At just 0.6km, Newnham Hill was a short but punchy affair averaging 8.3%, and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) took advantage of the steep pitch to counter-attack. The Frenchman could only string out a small gap on the bunch and was reeled in shortly after. Holmes took the KOM points on both Newnham Hill and the gentler Bulshill, although the jersey was already sealed up by Trinity Racing’s Callum Thornley after stages one and two.
Groupama-FDJ’s Josh Golliker was the next to attack but after several fruitless kilometres marooned in no-man’s land he dropped back to the peloton, who were content to knock off the pace. With the bunch led predominantly by Soudal Quick-Step the gap swung out to around two and a half minutes.
That gap shrunk to around a minute and a half inside the final 50km, with Magnier’s team-mates still riding hard on the front. But as the intermediate sprint approached the escapees continued to work effectively together, the gap stabilised at about 1:20, and Israel Premier-Tech were forced to take turns on the front to bring them back.
Similarly to yesterday’s stage the intermediate sprint was positioned shortly before the finale, this time inside the last 20km at Holcot, at the eastern end of the Pitsford Water causeway. On stage four, waves of attacks gearing up for the intermediate sprint neutralised the breakaway and set the scene for a frantic approach to the line. Today, the breakaway swept up the points and it was panic stations in the bunch. The sprinters’ teams had realised they were running out of time.
It was Remco Evenepoel to the rescue with just over 12km to go and his turn of speed immediately made an impact, bringing the time gap down to under a minute and stringing out the bunch behind him.
That gap was slashed to just seven seconds with a shade over a kilometre left, and all three men up the road were grimacing as they powered towards the line. Uno X-Mobility’s Jonas Abrahamsen was the man to drag them back with just a few hundred metres remaining, and it was time for another bunch sprint.
Soudal Quick-Step did not have quite the same flawless lead-out as on previous stages but it ultimately didn't matter, as Magnier opened up early and soared away from his rivals. It was another disappointing day for Vernon, who couldn't get past the Frenchman despite a dedicated Israel Premier-Tech lead-out. Blikra and Vernon, third and second respectively on stage four, swapped places this time round.
It was a day of few changes, though, in the general classification, with Stevie Williams still comfortably in the green jersey ahead of Sunday’s final stage.
RESULTS
1. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, in 3:12:09
2. Erlend Blikra (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
3. Ethan Vernon (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech
4. Rasmus Pedersen (Den) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team
5. Matevž Govekar (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
6. Bob Donaldson (GBr) Trinity Racing
7. Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
8. Tom Donnenwirth (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team
9. Rory Townsend (Irl) Q36.5 Pro Cycling
10. Casper van Uden (Ned) dsm-firmenich PostNL, all at same time
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE FIVE
1. Stevie Williams (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech, in 18:02:56
2. Oscar Onley (GBr) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +16s
3. Mark Donovan (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +40s
4. Tom Donnenwirth (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team, +41s
5. Joe Blackmore (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech, at same time
6. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:11
7. Jelte Krijnsen (Ned) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +1:42
8. Edoardo Zambanini (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +1:43
9. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:44
10. Julius Johansen (Den) Sabgal-Anicolor, +1:45
