Tour of Britain 2023 | Stage three highlights | Goole to Beverley - video Dailymotion

The Tour of Britain

Highlights from stage three of the Tour of Britain 2023, held between Goole and Beverley on Tuesday 5 September.

Transcript

00:00 Stage 3, Goul to Beverley in Yorkshire, 154.7km.

00:07 And a sense as the peloton prepared to get underway that the wind might have an impact on the race.

00:13 Another day of glorious sunshine however at the Tour of Britain.

00:16 And another day in which Jumbo Visma's Olaf Koi in the leader's jersey went into the race expecting a bunch sprint

00:24 and as favourites to take a third consecutive stage win.

00:29 Jumbo Visma then, the team that would have to control the early breakaways.

00:32 And a day again where a questionable decision to get in a breakaway might have been plaguing some of the thinking of the riders in the peloton

00:41 because the expectation would be that another bunch sprint would be on the cards for Jumbo Visma.

00:46 It was Niklas Sessler though from Global 6 Cycling riding his third participation at the Tour of Britain.

00:51 The Brazilian who got the attacks underway and he was joined in no short order by Harry Tanfield of TDT Unibet

00:58 and James Fouché, the leader of the King of the Mountains competition in the Pinarello King of the Mountains jersey.

01:05 Good opportunity for Fouché potentially to take further points in the King of the Mountains competition.

01:10 Three Cat.3, two Cat.3 climbs I should say along the way.

01:14 A couple of riders tried to get across to the three at the front of the race including Camille Bonnet of Flanders-Baloise,

01:20 the winner of a stage from a breakaway last year into Sunderland.

01:24 But those riders were caught and eventually the three riders were condemned to getting what they could out of the day's breakaway.

01:32 Held at a time gap that was no bigger than three minutes, they went over the Tothorp Land climb,

01:39 the first climb of the day with Fouché picking up four more points.

01:44 Harry Tanfield in good spirits and then on to the Langtoft climb, the final categorized climb of the day.

01:50 Both of them Cat.3 climbs and Fouché once again being allowed uncontested to roll over the top of the climb in first place,

01:58 picking up another four points, finishing the day on 25 points in the King of the Mountains competition

02:03 and extending his lead to 11 seconds in that competition.

02:08 Jumbo-Visma in control of the breakaway as they're headed towards Bridlington

02:12 at which point they would hit the coast road, turn south and be exposed to the potential of a cross-tailwind

02:18 on the exit of the Seaside Resort in the North Sea coast of East Yorkshire.

02:24 Jumbo-Visma as well as Movistar and a number of other teams vigilant then for this change in direction.

02:29 The three riders saw their advantage at this point in the race shrink to no more than about 20-25 seconds

02:34 as they passed through the sprint at Skipsea, halfway down the coastal section of this run into Beverley.

02:44 It was Harry Tanfield once again as he did on stage one who went across the line

02:49 of the only intermediate sprint of the day at Skipsea in first place.

02:53 The peloton were active at times, wary throughout and then at other times just watching one another

02:58 to see if the crosswinds might provoke a bit of action.

03:01 But it was St. Pirren who launched a three-up attack at a momentary lull during the peloton's attitude to the race

03:09 to try and get across a 30-second gap and join the three riders at the front of the race, which they duly did.

03:14 A smart move given that the final 28km would be held with a very strong tailwind.

03:20 This gave them breakaway new impetus and a chance potentially to spring a surprise on the bunch.

03:27 However, Jumbo-Visma had other ideas.

03:29 Eduardo Affini, Wout van Aert and Nathan van Goydon shut that move down from St. Pirren in very quick time

03:34 and started to stress out the peloton and briefly create a bit of mayhem.

03:38 Stretching things out in the cross-tailwinds and briefly breaking the bunch into two constituent parts.

03:45 The St. Pirren counterattack and the rest of the breakaway was neutralised with over 30km still to go.

03:50 Those St. Pirren riders would eventually find themselves in a small group off the back

03:54 who got back on once it calmed down again.

03:57 But that wasn't the end of the attacks. It was Ineos Grenadiers now who started to launch off the front.

04:01 Ben Turner, the Yorkshireman, the first of their riders to attack.

04:04 That provoked a counterattack from a number of other riders.

04:07 They were caught though. Turner neutralised.

04:10 But it was Luc Rowe, the road captain from Ineos Grenadiers, who launched the next attack.

04:14 Followed by Movistar who were very active all day.

04:18 That one didn't work either. Luc Rowe was called back by Jumbo-Visma.

04:24 And Ben Turner, having recovered, albeit briefly, on a little rise in the road, launched another attack.

04:31 And this one created mayhem.

04:33 Rasmus Tiller from Uno-X, the first of the riders to follow, as well as Jack Scott from Bolton Equities.

04:39 And Niels Pollitt of Bora-Hansgrohe, seeing that move and sniffing out the moment to counterattack with Ben Turner.

04:46 Gonzalo Serrano as well, last year's winner. Briefly off the front.

04:50 Nine riders at one point having a 30-second advantage.

04:54 But that got whittled down to just two.

04:56 Matt Bostock of the Isle of Man riding for Bolton Equities and Niels Pollitt who persisted to try and hold off the chase.

05:01 But with Gonzalo Serrano of Movistar back in the peloton, Movistar started to work along with Trinity Racing and Jumbo-Visma.

05:08 And first of all, Niels Pollitt was caught, leaving just Bostock out front.

05:12 And he too would be swallowed up by the peloton as they approached the outskirts of Beverley.

05:17 And a bunch sprint, very much on the cards at that point as Jumbo-Visma reasserted control at the front of the race.

05:23 Aided by Movistar and Trinity Racing.

05:26 Briefly, Q36.5 got involved as well at setting the pace and so too did Flanders-Baloise.

05:34 So slightly different script this time as opposed to the first two stages.

05:38 But in the final kilometre, it was the same lead-out man, Wout van Aert, who delivered Olaf Kooij to the point where he launched the sprint.

05:44 Danny van Poppel and not Sam Bennett riding for Bora-Hansgrohe and pushing Kooij close.

05:49 But Olaf Kooij had enough on an uphill sprint to the line in Beverley to hold off his compatriot Danny van Poppel.

05:55 A second consecutive second place for him but Olaf Kooij taking three out of three at the Tour of Britain.

06:02 The general classification then. Olaf Kooij at the top, Danny van Poppel in second place.

06:07 Tom Pidcock moving up to seventh and Wout van Aert dropping to fifth on GC.

Tour of Britain 2023 | Stage three highlights | Goole to Beverley

Category

Transcript

Recommended