Woods: Alaphilippe and Van Aert are the favourites for World Championships

Tour of Britain 2021 - 17th Edition - 4th stage Aberaeron - Great Orme - Llandudno 210 km - 08/09/2021 - Michael Woods (NZL - Israel Start-Up Nation) - Wout Van Aert (BEL - Jumbo - Visma) - Julian Alaphilippe (FRA - Deceuninck - Quick-Step) - photo Alex Whitehead/SWPix/CV/BettiniPhoto©2021
Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) on his wheel on the final climb of stage 4 of the Tour of Britain (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) had the best seat in the house on stage 4 of the Tour of Britain when it came to seeing the pre-Worlds form of two of the leading favourites in Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep).

It was Woods who instigated the stage-winning move at the foot of the final climb on the Great Orme, and who dragged both Alaphilippe and Van Aert with him as the gradient rose into the double digits.

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Daniel Benson

Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.