Tour of Britain 2021 – Stage 4 [LAST 10 KM]

September 8, 2021

Tour of Britain 2021 – Stage 4 – Aberaeron – Great Orme, Llandudno : 210 km

After a one-year hiatus the Tour of Britain is back, ready and raring to kickstart many riders’ preparations for the upcoming World Championships. With a dynamic eight-day route that features stages in England, Wales and Scotland, this year’s race is one of the most ‘complete’ tours of Britain ever seen. Add to that a star-studded start list which contains the likes of Julian Alaphilippe, Wout van Aert and Mark Cavendish and you have all the makings of a truly memorable edition. The Tour of Britain is the UK’s flagship stage race and one of the most important warm-up events on the calendar for those riders with lofty, end-of-season goals. Back for the first time since 2019 due to a COVID-19-enforced hiatus, the race will – once again – serve as a testing ground for prospective World Champions. The eight-day race runs from September 5th to September 12th and features stages as far south as Penzance and as far north as Aberdeen. As the riders make their long trek north, they’ll tackle three stages for the sprinters, a decisive team time trial and four demanding hilly stages that cover quintessentially British terrain.

Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) claimed his second win of the Tour of Britain on stage 4, beating Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) to the top of the short steep final climb on the Great Orme.

The Belgian champion, who won the uphill sprint on the opening day, this time matched the world champion on double-digit gradients and pipped him to the line to take the overall lead of the race.

Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) finished a more distant third place, having been the only rider able to match the pair on the steepest pitches at the mid-point of the 1.8km climb, and having in fact launched the acceleration that took them clear as a trio.

Race leader Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) rode his own pace on the steep section and came back to the trio with 500 metres to go after a brief plateau, but was distanced again as the road ramped up and his rivals opened up for the line.

He finished in fifth place – behind Alaphilippe’s teammate Mikel Honoré – at eight seconds, which, added to the 10 bonus seconds for the stage win, put Van Aert into the navy leader’s jersey by two seconds. Alaphilippe sits third at 11 seconds.

After a somewhat chaotic 200km of racing up through Snowdonia to the north coast of Wales, a sizeable peloton ticked off the gentle climb around the Great Orme headland before tackling the super-steep 1.8km climb up the middle of it.

Deceuninck-QuickStep led the way onto it and George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) set the tempo on the lower slopes, but it was Woods who exploded the race with an acceleration on the steepest section. At first, only Van Aert, Alaphilippe, Honoré, and Sergio Martín (Caja Rural) could follow, with Hayter on his own in between the next group of riders.

When Woods kicked again with 1.2km to go, the trio was established, and it was nearly a duo as Van Aert struggled to respond to an Alaphilippe acceleration. But they reformed and eased on the gentler section, allowing Hayter to come back with Honoré, who then proceeded to lead out the sprint for Alaphilippe as the gradient pitched up again. The world champion seized the initiative and opened up a handy advantage over Van Aert but the Belgian ground his way back and snatched it with a bike throw.

How it unfolded

Stage 4 of the Tour of Britain was the longest of the race at 210km and took the peloton up the west coast of Wales, through the Snowdonia mountain range, and up for a finish on top of the Great Orme headland on the north coast.

The day’s breakaway was soon formed by Gruff Lewis (Ribble-Weldtite), Jacob Scott (Canyon-DhB), Nicolas Sessler (Global 6), Robert Donaldson (Great Britain), Ollie Peckover (SwiftCarbon), and Jokin Murguialday (Caja Rural). The sextet built a lead of eight minutes as local lad Lewis grabbed the first intermediate sprint after 38km.

The first of the day’s three climbs came in the form of the category-2 ascent at Bwlch Llyn Bach, where green jerseyScott sprinted clear to take maximum points and extend his lead in the mountains classification. At that point, however, with 135km to go, the peloton – powered by Deceuninck-QuickStep, Jumbo-Visma, and Israel Start-Up Nation – were making inroads, cresting the climb six minutes in arrears.

Flatter terrain led to the second intermediate sprint with 85km to go, where Scott skipped clear to take the points, and where the gap back to the peloton was down to four minutes.

Next up was the day’s major climb, the category-1 ascent of Eidda’s Well in Snowdonia. There was action all around as Marc Soler (Movistar) launched an attack from the peloton and was joined by a Trinity Racing duo of Ben Healy and Thomas Gloag. They rode together in no-man’s land as Deceuninck-QuickStep set a strong pace behind and threatened to exploit the windswept hillside. At the summit with 65km to go, where Scott once again took maximum points, the original breakaway led the chasing trio by 30 seconds, with the peloton a further 40 seconds behind.

After the descent, the Soler trio got across, but Jumbo and Israel had started working again and the gap was falling, dropping to just 18 seconds with 50km to go. At that point, the peloton looked to ease back a little to allow the break more room, but the size of the gap inspired attacks, with Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-QuickStep) tracking a move fro Rory Townsend (Canyon-DhB. Things came back together briefly before second-placed Rohan Dennis (Ineos Grenadiers) found himself off the front in a brief move.

A new breakaway did establish itself with 30km to go, containing Mauro Schidt (Qhubeka-NextHash), Max Kanter (DSM), and David Gonzalez (Caja Rural). They rolled through the third and final sprint but were swallowed up as the pace increased with 17km to go.

QuickStep then took it up onto the Great Orme, but Ineos Grenadiers controlled the pace on the gentle cat-2 climb around the headland through Owain Doull. A couple of kilometres fro the top, Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) launched an attack and took 10 seconds onto the descent, but was soon swallowed up as the road dragged up ahead of the final climb.

QuickStep reasserted control on the run-in, but Bennett was the one who took things up on the steep lower slopes, setting a tempo that strung out the bunch but didn’t split it at the front. However, Woods soon appeared as if by stealth on the right, and drew out the key selection, kicking again on the 15 per cent ramps to form an elite trio with Alaphilippe and Van Aert.

Hayter tried to avoid going into the red and the gentler section allowed him to return and reignite his hopes of keeping the leader’s jersey, but he was powerless when Alaphilippe and Van Aert went for the line, both falling to the grass side-by-side beyond the finish line in what was a fascinating appetiser ahead of the World Championships.

Results :
1 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma 5:04:22
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
3 Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-up Nation 0:00:01
4 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:04
5 Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:08
6 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-up Nation 0:00:13
7 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:16
8 Simon Clarke (Aus) Team Qhubeka Assos
9 Sergio Roman Martin Galan (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:27
10 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team DSM 0:00:29
11 Maximilian Stedman (GBr) Canyon DHB Sungod
12 Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers
13 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:35
14 Mark Donovan (GBr) Team DSM 0:00:37
15 Oliver Stockwell (GBr) Great Britain 0:00:41
16 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
17 Joel Nicolau Beltran (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
18 Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:44
19 Gavin Mannion (USA) Rally Cycling
20 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers
21 Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) Movistar Team
22 James Shaw (GBr) Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling 0:00:47
23 Alex Peters (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling 0:00:49
24 Michal Paluta (Pol) Global 6 Cycling 0:01:07
25 Silvan Dillier (Swi) Alpecin-Fenix 0:01:11
26 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling 0:01:13
27 Thomas Gloag (GBr) Trinity Racing 0:01:14
28 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:01:16
29 George Bennett (NZl) Jumbo-Visma 0:01:28
30 Josu Etxeberria Azpilikueta (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:32
31 Steve Lampier (GBr) Saint Piran 0:01:36
32 James Mitri (NZl) Global 6 Cycling 0:01:41
33 Ryan Christensen (NZl) Canyon DHB Sungod 0:01:46
34 Romain Combaud (Fra) Team DSM 0:01:50
35 Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Movistar Team
36 Sean Bennett (USA) Team Qhubeka Assos
37 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling 0:02:05
38 Alex Richardson (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix 0:02:11
39 Ben Tulett (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
40 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:02:29
41 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
42 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Israel Start-up Nation
43 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:03:17
44 Rory Townsend (Irl) Canyon DHB Sungod 0:03:40
45 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:04:05
46 Mauro Schmid (Swi) Team Qhubeka Assos
47 Jimmy Janssens (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:04:43
48 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:04:47
49 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Team Qhubeka Assos
50 Thomas Mein (GBr) Canyon DHB Sungod 0:04:56
51 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation
52 Leon Mazzone (GBr) Saint Piran 0:05:16
53 Mason Hollyman (GBr) Israel Cycling Academy
54 Matthew Gibson (GBr) Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling 0:05:19
55 Max Walker (GBr) Trinity Racing 0:05:56
56 Owain Doull (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:06:03
57 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers
58 Gijs Leemreize (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
59 Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Rally Cycling
60 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team 0:06:17
61 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally Cycling
62 Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:06:25
63 Daniel Bigham (GBr) Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling
64 Tim Naberman (Ned) Team DSM 0:07:52
65 Robert Doonaldson (GBr) Great Britain 0:08:07
66 Joey Rosskopf (USA) Rally Cycling 0:08:33
67 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team DSM 0:08:47
68 Jacob Scott (GBr) Canyon DHB Sungod 0:08:51
69 Matthew Bostock (GBr) Canyon DHB Sungod 0:08:58
70 Gruffudd Lewis (GBr) Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling
71 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
72 Ollie Peckover (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling
73 Luke Lamperti (USA) Trinity Racing
74 Max Kanter (Ger) Team DSM 0:09:02
75 Jokin Murguialday (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:09:04
76 Ben Healy (Irl) Trinity Racing 0:09:24
77 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation 0:09:43
78 Daniel McLay (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic
79 Christopher Blevins (USA) Trinity Racing 0:10:23
80 Rhys Britton (GBr) Great Britain 0:11:16
81 Ethan Vernon (GBr) Great Britain
82 Nícolas Sessler (Bra) Global 6 Cycling
83 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:11:59
84 Tony Martin (Ger) Jumbo-Visma 0:13:53
85 David Gonzalez Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
86 Jon Barrenetxea Golzarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
87 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:14:19
88 Hans Becking (Ned) Global 6 Cycling 0:15:29
89 William Bjergfelt (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling 0:22:35
90 Ross Lamb (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling
91 Simon Wilson (GBr) Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling
92 William Tiball (GBr) Great Britain 0:23:32
93 Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Movistar Team
94 Max Rushby (GBr) Great Britain
95 Charles Page (GBr) Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling
96 Tom Mazzone (GBr) Saint Piran
97 Ross Holland (GBr) Saint Piran
98 Christopher Latham (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling
99 Oliver Maxwell (GBr) Saint Piran 0:23:42
100 Bradley Symonds (GBr) Saint Piran 0:23:49
101 Andrew Turner (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling 0:26:05
102 Tim Edvard Pettersen (Nor) Global 6 Cycling 0:26:22
DNS Juri Hollmann (Ger) Movistar Team

General Classification after Stage 4 :
1 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma 14:44:49
2 Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:02
3 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:11
4 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:21
5 Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-up Nation 0:00:40
6 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:44
7 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-up Nation 0:00:56
8 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Alpecin-Fenix 0:01:13
9 Mark Donovan (GBr) Team DSM 0:01:34
10 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:01:38
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team DSM
12 Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers 0:01:43
13 Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:48
14 James Shaw (GBr) Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling 0:01:56
15 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:02:03
16 Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:02:12
17 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling 0:02:13
18 Gavin Mannion (USA) Rally Cycling 0:02:28
19 Simon Clarke (Aus) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:02:37
20 Silvan Dillier (Swi) Alpecin-Fenix 0:02:46
21 Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Movistar Team 0:02:58
22 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:03:01
23 Thomas Gloag (GBr) Trinity Racing 0:03:07
24 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) Team Arkea-Samsic
25 George Bennett (NZl) Jumbo-Visma 0:03:10
26 Joel Nicolau Beltran (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:03:18
27 Alex Peters (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling 0:03:23
28 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling 0:03:49
29 Maximilian Stedman (GBr) Canyon DHB Sungod 0:03:53
30 Sergio Roman Martin Galan (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:04:14
31 Michal Paluta (Pol) Global 6 Cycling 0:04:15
32 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:04:53
33 Steve Lampier (GBr) Saint Piran 0:05:30
34 Rory Townsend (Irl) Canyon DHB Sungod 0:05:42
35 Oliver Stockwell (GBr) Great Britain 0:05:51
36 Ryan Christensen (NZl) Canyon DHB Sungod 0:05:52
37 Josu Etxeberria Azpilikueta (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:06:30
38 Matthew Gibson (GBr) Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling 0:06:40
39 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:06:45
40 James Mitri (NZl) Global 6 Cycling 0:06:56
41 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:07:08
42 Alex Richardson (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix 0:07:17
43 Mason Hollyman (GBr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:07:21
44 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers 0:07:39
45 Mauro Schmid (Swi) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:07:46
46 Richie Porte (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:07:47
47 Owain Doull (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:07:51
48 Max Walker (GBr) Trinity Racing 0:09:00
49 Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Rally Cycling 0:09:53
50 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:10:10
51 Ben Tulett (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix 0:10:38
52 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Israel Start-up Nation 0:10:42
53 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation 0:10:58
54 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team 0:11:14
55 Robert Doonaldson (GBr) Great Britain 0:11:17
56 Max Kanter (Ger) Team DSM 0:11:18
57 Joey Rosskopf (USA) Rally Cycling 0:11:26
58 Christopher Blevins (USA) Trinity Racing 0:13:31
59 Sean Bennett (USA) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:13:53
60 Ethan Vernon (GBr) Great Britain 0:14:35
61 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:16:50
62 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:17:04
63 Ben Healy (Irl) Trinity Racing 0:18:32
64 David Gonzalez Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:18:51
65 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally Cycling 0:19:02
66 Romain Combaud (Fra) Team DSM 0:20:23
67 Jacob Scott (GBr) Canyon DHB Sungod 0:20:35
68 Gijs Leemreize (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:21:20
69 Jimmy Janssens (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:22:08
70 Thomas Mein (GBr) Canyon DHB Sungod 0:24:19
71 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:24:26
72 Leon Mazzone (GBr) Saint Piran 0:26:05
73 Jon Barrenetxea Golzarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:27:08
74 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation 0:27:25
75 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:27:34
76 Luke Lamperti (USA) Trinity Racing 0:28:09
77 Gruffudd Lewis (GBr) Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling 0:28:23
78 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team DSM 0:29:08
79 Ollie Peckover (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling 0:29:55
80 Tony Martin (Ger) Jumbo-Visma 0:30:00
81 Nícolas Sessler (Bra) Global 6 Cycling 0:30:19
82 Tim Naberman (Ned) Team DSM 0:30:36
83 Hans Becking (Ned) Global 6 Cycling 0:31:06
84 Jokin Murguialday (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:31:07
85 Daniel Bigham (GBr) Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling 0:32:01
86 Rhys Britton (GBr) Great Britain 0:33:59
87 Matthew Bostock (GBr) Canyon DHB Sungod 0:35:27
88 Daniel McLay (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:35:38
89 Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Movistar Team 0:43:05
90 Ross Lamb (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling 0:43:32
91 William Bjergfelt (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling 0:45:26
92 Christopher Latham (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling 0:50:37
93 Oliver Maxwell (GBr) Saint Piran 0:50:41
94 Bradley Symonds (GBr) Saint Piran 0:50:48
95 Simon Wilson (GBr) Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling 0:51:24
96 Ross Holland (GBr) Saint Piran 0:52:58
97 Andrew Turner (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling 0:54:10
98 Charles Page (GBr) Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling 0:56:33
99 William Tiball (GBr) Great Britain 0:58:56
100 Tom Mazzone (GBr) Saint Piran 0:59:31
101 Max Rushby (GBr) Great Britain 1:00:50
102 Tim Edvard Pettersen (Nor) Global 6 Cycling 1:05:31