Steve Williams tightened his grip on the Tour of Britain on the uphill finish in Barnsley, extending his lead with a 10sec time bonus by winning stage three. It was a second stage win in two days for Williams at the end of a pulsating four hours of racing across Yorkshire. It was far from plain sailing, however, with first Julian Alaphilippe and then Louis Sutton giving the Welshman and his Israel-Premier Tech team a torrid time.
On a murky day, with the cloud hanging low over the hills on the edge of the Peak District, Alaphilippe was on the offensive immediately, spending the first 70km out front in a four-rider group. The Frenchman had started the stage in third, just 16sec behind Williams, so the Welshman’s team were forced to chase hard to keep him within reach.
With the threat from Alaphilippe neutralised, Sutton – bearing the bloody marks of a mid-stage crash on a greasy left-hand bend – then managed to elude the peloton, slipping clear in an eight-man group which gained a minute, making the 22-year-old the race leader “on the road” for about 40 kilometres.
Sutton is still an amateur, but he has built a strong record racing in France and Spain for AVC Aix-en-Provence, and his effort forced Williams’ teammates to chase hard once again. As the pursuit intensified, the cumulative effort told on the double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who slid off the back and eventually lost 2min 30sec.
“The roads were really demanding, the weather was pretty bad, and it was a messy, chaotic stage,” said Williams. “The way [the team] controlled that was incredible, the way they brought the group back at the end was one of the most impressive things I’ve seen.”
Sutton cracked with 19km to go, but he limited his losses over the final climb to move up to sixth overall; with the peloton whittled down to about 20 riders coming into Barnsley, the way was clear for Williams to fight off a challenge from Tuesday’s stage winner Paul Magnier and the Italian Edoardo Zambanini at the finish.
Alaphilippe also lost time on the run-in, so Williams’ closest challenger is now the young Scot Oscar Onley, who is 16sec behind and does not have the legs of the Welshman in a sprint. On paper, Friday’s flat stage from Derby to Newark should be more straightforward, but if the wind blows, and there are tired legs after two remarkably tough stages, there is still room for the unexpected.
