Tour of Britain: Groenewegen wins stage 4

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Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) won stage 4 of the Tour of Britain in a bunch finish at Builth Wells after a demanding day of racing in Wales. The Dutch champion defeated Dan McLay (Great Britain) in a keenly-contested sprint, while Julien Vermote (Etixx-QuickStep) placed fifth to retain the yellow jersey of race leader.

The closing kilometres saw Groenewegen's LottoNL-Jumbo and André Greipel's Lotto Soudal squads vie for supremacy at the head of a reduced peloton, each man aware of the importance of positioning in the sinuous finale. The race had broken up on the rugged terrain in the final 40 kilometres of the Tour of Britain's longest stage, and a number of contenders for the win – including Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) – were distanced.

Tony Martin led the race under the flamme rouge in support of Vermote, but LottoNL-Jumbo took over soon afterwards and won the race within a race to the first sharp right-hand turn with 600 metres remaining. Groenwegen was tucked safely in second position there, just behind teammate Tom Leezer, while the Lotto Soudal train derailed.

Leezer expertly piloted Groenegwegen through the three turns that followed, and by the time the Dutchman straightened up for the sprint, only McLay and Ben Swift (Sky) were in any sort of contention to compete for the win.

Indeed, McLay put up a fierce battle in the final 200 metres, almost drawing level with Groenwegen, but he was coming from too far back to deny him the spoils, and had to settle for second place, sportingly offering a handshake as they wheeled to a halt past the line. Swift, meanwhile, held on for third place on the stage ahead of Carlos Barbero (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Vermote.

It was the 23-year-old Groenwegen's second victory on British roads this year following his win on the opening day of the Tour de Yorkshire, and was also something of a calling card for the Dutch national selectors ahead of next month's World Championships road race in Doha.

"I won in Yorkshire and I've won here too," Groenewegen said. "Today was a very hard stage with all the climbs, and it was very long, so I knew there was only a small chance I could fight for it. But the team was very strong and I started to think I could do it. It was a very hard final but the team worked very hard and I had four guys for me, so it was a perfect team performance."

Attacks

Despite the rugged terrain, it took some time for the day's early break to form, as the race stayed together long enough for Nicolas Roche (Sky) to lead over the first categorised climb, Rhydtalog. 40 kilometres in, Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF), Matt Holmes (Madison-Genesis), Rob Partridge (NFTO) and Benito Diez (Caja Rural) eventually broke the deadlock and forged clear, opening a maximum lead of 5:30 over the top of the climb of Bwlch-y-Safan midway through the stage.

That gap had been shaved back to three minutes with 60 kilometres to race, and at that point, the stage seemed set for a bunch finish. That, ultimately, was what transpired, but as is often the case in this part of the world, the final destination was reached by way of a circuitous route.

Jack Bauer (Cannondale-Drapac) set a fierce tempo on the rolling roads in the final 50 kilometres and when Movistar and Wout Poels (Sky) put their shoulders to the wheel on an unclassified climb with 40 kilometres to go, the peloton duly fragmented, with Cavendish and Greipel among the many riders left behind, while Tonelli, the last survivor from the break, was swept up.

Tony Martin helped to bring some order to proceedings shortly afterwards but the difficult terrain inspire a number of attacks, including short-lived efforts from Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) and Nicolas Roche (Sky), and a more sustained solo raid by Sebastian Langeveld (Cannondale-Drapac).

Greipel was part of a 20-man group that managed to latch back on with 25 kilometres remaining, and with Cavendish unable to make it back up, Lotto Soudal duly took over at the head of the bunch in a bid to set up the German.

Ephemeral moves from Jochem Hoekstra (Giant-Alpecin) and later Taylor Phinney (BMC) and Edoard Zanini (Bardiani-CSF) followed, but nothing would deny the fast men their opportunity in Builth Wells, even if it would ultimately be squandered by Lotto Soudal and Greipel.

In the race for final overall victory, meanwhile, Vermote retains his slender six-second lead over Steve Cummings (Dimension Data). Swift and Gallopin lie at 1:03, with Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) a further second back in fifth.

"It was a really tough stage, particularly the final," Vermote said. "I didn't expect it to be so hard to be honest, but my teammates did really great work today, and in the final I could count on Tony and Dan. We'll see tomorrow, because it's another really hard day, but I'm happy to still be in yellow."

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