Race leader Edvald Boasson Hagen took charge of the Tour of Britain today, chasing the breakaway alone and asserting his authority on the race. Etixx-QuickStep’s Matteo Trentin may have taken the win on the day but the Norwegian stretched his lead out to thirteen seconds, a gap which looks to be unassailable over the final two – largely flat – days.
The MTN-Qhubeka man was more concerned with extending his lead than taking the stage, leading out Trentin, who had been in the break of the day, as he looked to maximise his advantage.
“When Edvald arrived we had a good gap but everyone was on the limit because that was probably the hardest race we’d ever done,” said Trentin. “It was full gas from the start. I sat for a moment in his wheel and took a chance to breathe for the first time in 100 kilometre. Then I just jumped past him for the win.”
On paper the stage was one of the hardest of the race, and so it proved on the road, with the peloton fracturing early on as Boasson Hagen sprinted for bonus seconds.
A strong group containing Trentin, Stefan Küng (BMC), Jens Debuscherre (Lotto-Soudal), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Sebastian Langeveld (Cannondale-Garmin) and Bram Tankink (LottoNL-Jumbo) made up the breakaway, though by the time they reached the outskirts of Nottingham they were already attacking each other.
Back in the peloton, Sky were doing much of the work, though dislodging the yellow jersey proved to be an impossibility. With the men in black worn out after a day of work, Poels was isolated in the final kilometres, and that was Boasson Hagen’s time to strike, attacking with three kilometres to go.
| stage result | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx – Quick Step | 4:45:27 | |
| 2 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka | ||
| 3 | Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS | 0:00:04 | |
| 4 | Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick Step | ||
| 5 | Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto – Soudal | ||
| 6 | Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Team Cannondale – Garmin | ||
| 7 | Alex Peters (GBr) Great Britain | ||
| 8 | Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team | ||
| 9 | Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An Post – Chainreaction | ||
| 10 | Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky | ||
| 11 | Rasmus Guldhammer Pedersen (Den) Cult Energy Pro Cycling | ||
| 12 | Rubén Fernandez Andujar (Esp) Movistar Team | ||
| 13 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | ||
| 14 | Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team | ||
| 15 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Great Britain | ||
| 16 | Stef Clement (Ned) IAM Cycling | ||
| 17 | Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Tinkoff – Saxo | ||
| 18 | Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Cannondale – Garmin | ||
| 19 | Stefan Denifl (Aut) IAM Cycling | ||
| 20 | Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Tinkoff – Saxo |
| general classification | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka | 27:47:54 | |
| 2 | Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky | 0:00:13 | |
| 3 | Rasmus Guldhammer Pedersen (Den) Cult Energy Pro Cycling | 0:00:43 | |
| 4 | Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS | 0:00:44 | |
| 5 | Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team | 0:00:51 | |
| 6 | Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick Step | ||
| 7 | Rubén Fernandez Andujar (Esp) Movistar Team | ||
| 8 | Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo | ||
| 9 | Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An Post – Chainreaction | ||
| 10 | Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Tinkoff – Saxo |
| mountains classification | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Williams (GBr) One Pro Cycling | 32 | pts |
| 2 | Mark McNally (GBr) Madison Genesis | 29 | |
| 3 | Thomas Stewart (GBr) Madison Genesis | 29 |
| POINTS CLASSIFICATION | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS | 62 | pts |
| 2 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka | 54 | |
| 3 | Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto – Soudal | 42 |
| sprints classification | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Williams (GBr) One Pro Cycling | 18 | pts |
| 2 | Conor Dunne (Irl) An Post – Chainreaction | 11 | |
| 3 | Pim Ligthart (Ned) Lotto – Soudal | 8 |
Daniel Ostanek 