Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) made it three wins at the Tour of Britain from five stages, launching a long-range sprint on the dragging finish into Northampton on stage 5 and holding off the challenge from Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) in second.
The three-man breakaway of the stage that got away in the opening 10km of the 149.6km route made it all the way to the final kilometre until they were swallowed up at the last by the hectic peloton after the likes of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) had worked tirelessly to peg them back.
Without much of a lead-out left after the touch chase, Magnier made his move early in the sprint in the red points jersey, proving he was every bit worthy of wearing it as he powered to the line ahead of the Norwegian and Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech), who took yet another top three finish. This win marks Magnier’s fifth win of his neo-pro season.
Miraculously, Danish champion Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who was in the three-man 130km move with Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Matthew Holmes (GB), managed to still sprint in the finish to fifth but it was still heartbreak for those in the break.
Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) kept his overall lead on GC after finishing safely in the front group, holding a 16-second lead over Oscar Onley (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) heading into the final stage tomorrow from Lowestoft to Felixstowe.
Results
