Tour of Britain: Groenewegen wins stage 3

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Report

Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) used his power and speed to win the rising finish in the centre of Newcastle. The Dutchman kicked early as the gradient rose and his sprint rivals were unable to close the gap.

Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) tried to come up late but was slightly blocked and unable to catch his compatriot. Davide Cimolai (Israel Cycling Academy) was third and Groenewegen's teammate Mike Teunissen was fourth.

Race leader Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) finished fifth and so retained the leader's green jersey. He now leads Cimolai by just seven seconds before Tuesday's ken hilly stage from Gateshead to Kendal. Van der Poel moved up to third overall, 11 seconds down on Trentin.

"It was a hard finish, it was a little uphill but it was okay for me and we took the win after doing a good job," Groenewegen explained after taking his 13th win of 2019 and his second of this year's Tour of Britain.

"The team did a good job in the final two kilometres with the lead out. I sprinted a little bit early, with two hundred metres to go, but it was enough."

Jumbo-Visma have now won 45 races so far in 2019.

How it unfolded

The 183km stage started on wet roads in Berwick-on-Tweed, close to the Scottish border but the long ride south towards Newcastle offered better conditions and dry roads.

The early break was quick to form after a fast start, with six riders going away after nine kilometres. In there where Robert Scott (Wiggins Le Col), Jacob Scott (Swift Carbon), Rory Townsend (Canyon DHB), Dries de Bont (Corendon-Circus), Harry Tanfield (Katusha-Alpecin) and Christophe Noppe (Sport Vlaanderen). None were considered an overall threat and so they quickly opened a three-minute gap. Mitchelton-Scott lead the chase at the head of the peloton.

The riders in the break fought for the early intermediate sprints and the King of the Mountains, with Jacob Scott scoring enough points to extend his lead in the climber's competition, while Townsend took the intermediate sprints jersey.

The stage rolled on towards Newcastle until 62km to go when a closing level crossing split the peloton and caused a moment of chaos, with team cars and medical vehicles also stuck behind the level crossing.

The front half of the peloton was quickly stopped by the race officials to allow the second part to catch them. Then the break was stopped to ensure they did not gain an unfair advantage. Race director Mick Bennett and his staff took control and when all the riders were back together, the break was allowed to start again and was given a lead of 2:54.

The six attackers recognized their opportunity and immediately began to work together at high speed to try and hold off the peloton. For a long time their efforts paid off, forcing the peloton to join forces in pursuit.

Israel Cycling Academy and then Jumbo-Visma helped Mitchelton-Scott, with other helping too. However it was a close pursuit match, with the peloton only catching the six with a kilometre to go. Positioning was vital in the city centre streets and slight chicane to the foot of the climb. Norwegian national champion Amund Grøndahl Jansen and Teunissen were there for Groenewegen, with the Dutchman using his muscular power and sprinting skills to win by several bike lengths.

Stage Results

General Classification