Tour of Britain: Groenewegen wins stage 5

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Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) confirmed he is the fastest sprinter at the Tour of Britain, winning the sprint in Birkenhead Park across the Mersey from Liverpool, to take his third win of the race.

Teammate Mike Teunissen gave Groenewegen a high-speed lead-out on the sweeping left finish and the Dutchman distanced his rivals when he opened up his sprint.

21-year-old Great Britain rider Matt Walls was on Groenwegen’s wheel and stayed there to finish second. Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) came through along the barriers to finish third, while Britain’s Ben Swift (Team Ineos) was seventh and Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) tenth.

 Local rider Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) crashed mid-stage and had to abandon. He was taken to hospital for checks.

Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) was further back, out of the top ten, and so thanks to a four-second time bonus for third place, Trentin took back the race leader’s green jersey. 

He now leads Van der Poel by three seconds, with Jasper de Buyst (Lotto Soudal) at 10 seconds.

Trentin, Van der Poel and the other overall contenders will fight for vital seconds in Thursday's 14.2km individual time trial in Pershore in South West England. The Tour of Britain ends in Manchester on Sunday.

Groenewegen has now won 14 times so far this season, hitting the line first even when he was not at his best.

"My morale was good but my legs weren't so good," he admitted.

"The team rode all day on the front and then gave me a perfect lead-out to help me win, I'm very happy with that. Koen Bouwman rode on the front all day and so only having four riders for the final makes it harder. There was a short climb in the final too but we moved up after that and I won."

Trentin raced in the sky blue points jersey but was happy to be in the leader's green jersey after the stage. Overall leadership means he will start last in Thursday's time trial and so will be able to compare his ride against that of Van der Poel.

"I'm back in green and luckily my guys don't have to ride for me tomorrow, they can have an easier day with the time trial," the Italian said, knowing every second will count in this year's Tour of Britain.

"He (Van der Poel) is going to be good, nobody knows how good but I guess he's going to be good. We'll see what happens but I'll kind of ride defensively. I've got a lead, so I just hope Van der Poel is not as good as he was yesterday (Tuesday in Kendal)."

How it happened

The 174km stage around the Wirral headland across the Mersey River from Liverpool was expected to be a day for the sprinters but with strong winds blowing off the North Sea, there was a sense of nerves and expectation at the start.

Van der Poel cheekily tried an early attack but the peloton pulled him back and then allowed a four-rider move go clear. In there were King of the Mountains leader Jacob Scott (Swift Carbon), Rob Scott (Wiggins Le Col), Matt Bostock (Canyon dhb) and Emil Viniebo (Riwal Readynez). None were a threat overall and so Corendon-Circus let them open a two-minute gap for the loop south into Cheshire and North Wales.

Jacob Scott was the first to the top of the first climb, helping to defend his black jersey. Corendon-Circus continued to lead the chase on the road back to the Wirral, aware that crosswinds in the final kilometres on the exposed coast roads could spark echelons and attacks. Their efforts brought the lead down to less than a minute but a crash with 50km to race, slowed the pace briefly. Local hero and 2016 Tour of Britain winner Steve Cummings was caught up in the crash and was forced to abandon. Ben Hermans (Israel Cycling Academy) and sprint classification leader Rory Townsend (Canyon DHB) also went down hard but the racing went on at speed.

After taking more points on Flaybrick Hill with 35km to race, Jacob Scott eased up and with Rob Scott also distanced, only Viniebo and Bostock were out front. They punched their lead out past a minute as the peloton upped the pace in fear of the echelons and attacks on the coast.

The wind was blowing from the North Sea but not quite enough to split the peloton. Corendon-Circus stayed on the front but were happy with the breakaway and none of their rivals tried their hand.

The gap to the peloton was 1:20 as the race passed through the finish with 30km to go. However, the chase was on and a sprint was the default finish expected next time back in Birkenhead Park.

Viniebo and Bostock were eventually caught on the final climb of Flaybrick Hill after several attacks were pulled back. The young Great Britain team was not afraid to take over at the head of the peloton after an attack by Simon Clarke (EF Education First) was pulled back.

Swift was there too but Teunissen dragged Groenewegen up to the front as the riders entered the park. His superior speed provided a perfect lead-out for Groenewegen to do his thing and win yet again.

Stage Results

Overall Standings