Tour of Britain: Poels wins on Hartside Fell

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Wout Poels (Team Sky) took a last dash victory on the fifth and hardest stage of the Tour of Britain beating Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) with Benat Intxausti finishing third. Poels caught Boasson Hagen inside the final few hundred metres to take his first win since Tirreno-Adriatico in March. Boasson Hagen, however did enough to take hold of the race lead by a single second.

"It was pretty close, at 500 metres I thought that I would be second but then he slowed down a bit and I thought that I had to take this chance for the win," said Poels. "I knew we had the last 500 headwind and the rest was crosswind. The final three kilometres were really hard.

"It's always really nice to win. I don't win a lot of races. I think that the last one was Tirreno this year so it's always really nice to win, especially in the UK."

The final climb up the Hartside Fell provided the exciting finish that the organisers had hoped for as the race fractured into many pieces. With race leader Juan Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) being dropped almost as soon as the climb began, it was all up for grabs in the general classification. There were attacks from the off but it really got going when Steven Kruijswijk (Lotto-Jumbo) attacked with a little over five kilometres remaining.

Poels bridged over to his compatriot, who already looked like he was struggling, and made a solo bid for the line just outside the three kilometres to go. He pulled out a significant gap on Kruijswijk but if Poels had dared to look over his shoulder then he would have seen the figure of Boasson Hagen chasing them both down. Using the technique often employed at Team Sky, the Norwegian didn't react to the attacks and remained at his own pace to chase each one down.

Boasson Hagen dragged the two groups together again, with Intxausti adding to the numbers, only for Poels to go once again. He didn't get far though and Boasson Hagen took his own chances outside the one kilometre to go banner. It looked good for the MTN-Qhubeka rider but Poels had one more dig left in him and passed Boasson Hagen before the line.

Tomorrow's stage 6 is another challenging one but Poels may have to look to bonus seconds to overhaul Boasson Hagen.

How it happened

Stage five of the Tour of Britain provided the riders with the one and only summit finish of the race on the Hartside Fell. While not particularly difficult, compared to the climbs most the riders face on the continent, the finish would be crucial for the overall classification. After some cold weather up in Scotland, the riders were bathed in sunshine as the race rolled out of Prudhoe. Despite signing on with his team, Etixx-QuickStep's Fernando Gaviria did not take the start with the team worried about a potential tendinitis problem in his knee.

Five riders, Conor Dunne (An Post-Chain Reactions), Mark McNally (Madison Genesis), sprints leader Pete Williams (One Pro Cycling), Michael Morkov (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Morgan Kneisky (Raleigh) made up the day's breakaway. Their advantage never looked out of control with Movistar and Team Sky taking turns on the front.

After already losing two riders there was some worrying moments for Etixx-QuickStep when Mark Cavendish hit the deck, apparently tangling with one of the Movistar riders. The Manxman remonstrated with Gorka Izagirre, seemingly unpleased with how the crash happened. He was able to carry on, however.

As the race approached the finale, the break split into two groups with Morkov, McNally and Williams forging on. The trio held out until just inside the final 10 kilometres before they were eventually reeled in by the peloton.

Lobato made a quick exit through the escape hatch at the back of the bunch with just seven kilometres to go as the attacks came flying off the front. Ruben Zepuntke (Cannondale-Garmin) had a go off the front but he never established a serious lead. A group including Pete Kennaugh (Team Sky) and Chris Anker Sorensen (Tinkoff-Saxo) jumped the gap before Kruijswijk went alone.

He caught and passed by his compatriot Poels, who tried to solo to the line but was brought back by Kruijswijk and Boasson Hagen. The Norwegian made what looked like the winning move but it wasn't to be as Poels found one last surge to pass him to take the stage victory.

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