Tour of Britain: Van der Poel seals overall

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Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) sealed the overall victory in the Tour of Britain with his third stage win of the race, topping Sunweb's Cees Bol in a photo finish sprint. Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) finished third.

Mitchelton-Scott took firm control of the final lead-out, with Trentin parked solidly on Van der Poel's wheel, but Bol started his sprint early and the Dutchman had to fight to get around his compatriot.

Van der Poel eked out the win with a well-timed bike throw, with Trentin making a powerful late surge to finish a close third.

Trentin could be consoled with a victory the points classification, while Rory Townsend (Canyon-dhb) won the intermediate sprint competition and Jacob Scott claiming the mountains classification.

“It wasn’t an easy day today, a lot of teams tried to attack us,” Van der Poel said. “Coming into Tour of Britain I didn’t really think it was possible because of the time trial which I hadn’t done in a really long time.  But after the time trial I started to believe I could win the GC, but today was harder than I thought it would be and I’m really happy with the feeling also today and it’s been a good week for us.

Van der Poel thanked his Corendon Circus teammates, saying, “They’ve really over done it I think, really, I’m proud of them. We are not the biggest team here, but they gave everything they had, also after the steep climb we were still three riders in the first group, and they did an amazing job after yesterday.”

How it unfolded

With the second victory of Van der Poel on the brutal slopes of Burton Dassett on stage 7 where he consolidated his lead over Mitchelton-Scott's Matteo Trentin, the main interest of the final stage into Manchester turned to one where the smaller teams tried to outwit Corendon-Circus and the World Tour squads who were hoping for another sprint finish.

Straight from the flag dropping at the exit of Altrincham three riders went away, Matt Holmes ( Madison Genesis), Gabriel Cullaigh (Wiggins-Le Col) and the Danish rider Emil Vinjebo (Riwal Readynez).

The best-placed rider of the trio being Holmes at 1:30 from the leader it was an audacious move for the British rider and one which was kept well under control by the peloton. Corendon-Circus assumed the majority of work in holding the escapees in view with some help from Jumbo-Visma.

Ultimately the break was always going to be caught and when Team Ineos accelerated on one of the unclassified climbs with 80km to go the race exploded into action. 

With Dylan Groenewegen relegated to the second group, Ineos and Mitchelton-Scott piled on the pressure in the front group of roughly 35 riders. By the bottom of the final classified climb Ramsbottom Rake, 73km to go, the gap to the Groenewegen and co. was 47 seconds. It was definitely over for them the when tactics of Team Ineos became clear and Pavel Sivakov attacked on the 19% slope taking a maximum lead of 15 seconds before being brought back by Lotto Soudal. 

Immediately Michal Golas and then Moscon tried their hand which then sparked off a crazy twenty minutes of individual attacks and little groups going off the front and being brought back.

Eventually, Movistar's Andrey Amador pulled clear and established a 27-second lead which he kept to the final Eisberg sprint ensuring he took the maximum bonus. Behind the sole leader Dries de Bondt pipped Matteo Trentin meaning that the Italian only closed the gap to the race leader by one second.

Amador was eventually neutralised following a skirmish which included the first two on GC and then Golas, Larry Warbasse and Mark Christian took off. They held a slim lead until they too were taken back inside the last 10km under the impetus of Lotto Soudal and Mitchelton-Scott.

Into the final kilometres and there was a late attempt by Gianni Moscon but Mitchelton-Scott were wise to it and hit the front with the aim of putting Trentin in the ideal position. However, they got it wrong on one of the last corners and Trentin lost his leadout briefly which then left Sunweb's Cees Bol to launch his sprint from 250 metres only for Van der Poel to come off his wheel in the last 100 metres and pip him with a well-timed bike throw.

Trentin was third and a fast-finishing Mike Teunissen.

With a third stage win, Van der Poel confirmed his status as the standout rider of the race and with the forthcoming World Championships in Yorkshire, he'll start as one of the big favourites for the elite road race.

Stage Results

Final standings