Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) outpaced Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) on the final 100-metre uphill finish at Burton Dassett Hills and won stage 4 of the Tour of Britain Men.
Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) held off Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) for third on the stage.
The 22-year-old stage winner moved into the general classification lead with the victory, taking the leader's green jersey from Visma-Lease a Bike sprinter Olav Kooij, who was not in contention on the final ascent and finished well back in the peloton. Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) remained second overall, two seconds back, while Alaphilippe, the only former Tour of Britain winner in the field, jumped to third overall, four seconds back.
“It's incredible, I'm really happy with this victory, I knew this climb could be good for me, but it wasn't easy to get the victory, the team did an amazing job throughout the day, and we deserve this, so I'm really happy for me and the team,” Grégoire said at the finish.
The longest stage of the week saw a four-rider breakaway survive for almost 170km and, once on the three finishing circuits around Burton Dassett Hills Country Park, the entire complexion of the race transitioned to who saved enough in the legs for scaling the 7.3% climb to the finish.
British national road champion Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) led the regrouped peloton on the lower slopes of Burton Dassett Hills. Alaphilippe then made his move on the right side of the narrow lane and Grégoire took the left side. The pair of French riders surged side-by-side for a short distance until Grégoire opened a decisive acceleration, which Alaphilippe could not match.
“It wasn't an easy stage. Tomorrow is harder than today, so we will see tomorrow, but I will try to fight for this victory. The atmosphere in the final climb was really good, really happy to win in front of the British crowd,” Grégore added.
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The Tour of Britain Men moves to Wales for the final two stages, Saturday's stage 5 taking in 133.5km Pontypool to The Tumble. There is a double ascent of the five-kilometre finish climb.
How it unfolded
Crowds at Burton Dassett Hills (Image credit: Getty Images)
Friday's stage of the Tour of Britain Men began in Atherston and headed south for 186.9km to Burton Dassett, a challenging hilltop finish to settle accounts after three circuits.
Six categorised climbs dotted the second half of the route, Friz Hill (1.2km at 4.3%) the first to hit with 77km to go. Fant Hill (1.1km at 4.3%) and Sun Rising Hill (900 metres at 9.9%), then a trio of ascents finishing with the stiff 900-metre ascent of Burton Dassett Hills, the final climb crowning a stage winner.
After the opening 6km, four riders settled in as the break of the day - Rory Townsend (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Joshua Golliker (EF Education-Aevolo), Victor Vercouillie (Team Flanders-Baloise) and Cedric Beullens (Lotto). They moved along under sunny skies without disruption, while behind Soudal-QuickStep and Team Picnic-PostNL did much of the work to keep them from going beyond three minutes.
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) looked to struggle at one point, but recovered to remain in the peloton. Meanwhile, fellow Brit Golliker, almost half his age, rode in the break as the virtual GC leader.
Geraint Thomas would finish more than 7 minutes back of the stage winner alongside teammate Ben Swift (Image credit: Getty Images)
Once on the finish circuits, the breakaway looked to lose all steam and any chance to complete the three loops together. With 25km to go, their lead was under 30 seconds, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) launching an attack from behind to signal the chasers would make the catch soon. He was joined by teammate AJ August, Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) to catch the leaders with just under 20km to go.
The peloton sensed urgency and went to work to bring it all back together with 16km to race as the second pass arrived on Burton Dassett Hills, packed with spectators.
Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) attacked after the climb with 11km remaining, creating open space behind him, but the peloton did not allow him to sail away. With 6.5km to go, Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) went into time trial mode and bridged to Leknessund.
Golliker went to the front of the peloton to drive the pace, the duo at the front back in the main group that was now bunched together across the wide approach to the final climb.
The gold helmet of double Olympic Champion Evenepoel was seen at the front of the race as the road narrowed and barricades appeared to signal the stiff climb. Watson then moved to the front on the ascent, Milan Vader (Q36.5) moving alongside briefly.
The second half of the climb was dominated by Grégoire as an acceleration by compatriot Alaphilippe wasn't enough to keep the 22-year-old from the victory.
Romain Gregoire of Groupama - FDJ celebrates at podium as stage winner (Image credit: Getty Images)
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. On the bike, she has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast), and spends time on gravel around horse farms in north Georgia.
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