Lawless wins Tour de Yorkshire

Chris Lawless (Team Ineos) won the Tour de Yorkshire, surviving over the climbs of the final stage, the race’s toughest, between Halifax and Leeds. Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team) took the stage win, but with Lawless taking second ahead of his teammate Eddie Dunbar, the bonus seconds weren’t enough to overhaul the Briton.

Alexander Kamp’s team Riwal Readynez put on pressure in the final 50 kilometres of the stage, but things really kicked off when Chris Froome (Team Ineos) accelerated on the final climb of the day, 20km out.

His teammate Eddie Dunbar went on the attack on the descent, forcing Van Avermaet’s CCC Team and a lone Kamp to give chase. Van Avermaet went for it 5km from the line, bridging to Dunbar but taking Lawless with him, while further back Kamp formed a chase group.

Kamp’s group couldn’t close the gap though, and with Ineos enjoying the numerical advantage in the lead group, the race was mathematically decided before the final sprint, which saw Van Avermaet ease to the win ahead of his Ineos companions.

“If someone had told me that I’d win this race when I was coming into it, I’d have called them a bare-faced liar,” said Lawless after the stage. “I didn’t think it was possible.

“I’ve got to really thank the team for having faith in me and backing me because I don’t really have a good history of performing on courses like this.

“When Greg went on the climb with 5km to go, we already had Eddie up the road and I knew I just had to follow. As soon as we got there, I told Eddie to ride because I knew even if I got second on the stage and Greg won then I’d still win.”

How it unfolded

As the peloton set off for the final stage of the Tour de Yorkshire, there would have been some relief that there would be no repeat of Saturday’s adverse weather. Still, the 175km from Halifax to Leeds would be a tougher test, running over the Yorkshire Dales and taking in five classified climbs along the way.

Nine men got away from the peloton early on to form the break of the day. Pierre Rolland (Vital Concept-B&B Hotels) was the biggest name in the move. He was joined by Jonathan Hivert (Total Direct Énergie), Arnaud Courteille (both Vital Concept-B&B Hotels), Victor Lafay (Cofidis), Julen Irizar (Euskadi-Murias), Jacob Scott (SwiftCarbon), Jonathan McEvoy, Joey Walker (both Madison Genesis) and Ethan Hayter (Great Britain).

Team Ineos led the peloton for most of the day, with Ian Stannard spending over 100km working on the front tapping out a steady tempo and holding the break under three minutes.

The peloton whittled down kilometre by kilometre, until Riwal Readynez took to the front 50km from the line on the penultimate climb of the day, the Côte de Greenhow Hill. Immediately, the peloton shattered as Kamp’s team upped the pace, seeking to put race leader Chris Lawless under pressure.

A minute up the road, the break disintegrated on the same climb. Courteille, Lafay and Hivert led the way over the top, with Courteille taking the points to move into the lead of the mountain classification.

Riwal slowed up the pace after the climb, letting the gap expand to two minutes, with several groups returning to the fold, including several of their own dropped riders. Bolstered by more of Kamp’s teammates up front, the pace was soon upped once again.

Ineos were back on the front by the final climb of the day, the Côte de Otley Chevin, with the gap to the three leaders evaporating on the 10 per cent average gradient. With Lawless struggling on the climb, Froome put in a stinging attack halfway up, kicking off the race’s endgame.

Over the top, Kamp and Van Avermaet were among the riders in the lead group. Froome’s teammate Eddie Dunbar was there too, but not for long. The Irishman, also 10 seconds down on GC, attacked the descent.

Dunbar quickly bridged to the break, while further back, the GC group swelled as Lawless and several other dropped riders got back in. At the final intermediate sprint 13km out, Dunbar rolled over the line to grab three bonus seconds, while the CCC-led peloton chased 25 seconds back.

Van Avermaet launched his bid for victory on an unclassified rise with 5km to race, catching Dunbar but bringing Lawless with him. Kamp quickly formed a second group as the peloton stalled behind, setting up a tense chase on the final run-in.

It wasn’t to be for Kamp though, despite the commendable efforts of his Continental-ranked team. The leaders held on to the finish, with Van Avermaet triumphing in the lightly-contested sprint while Lawless savoured his overall victory.

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Full results

Intermediate sprint 1 - 58km

Intermediate sprint 2 - 162.5km

Finish sprint

Stage 4 mountain classification

Stage 4 team classification

Final general classification

Final points classification

Final mountain classification

Final team classification