Tour of Britain 2019 – Stage 4 [FULL STAGE]

September 10, 2019

Tour of Britain 2019 – Stage 4 – Gateshead – Kendal : 173,2 km

Every year there is a new angle in the story that the Tour of Britain has written since 2004, but this year’s is obvious: it’s an ideal build up event on British roads for the upcoming World Championships in Yorkshire. Not that all the stages will resemble the lumpy, technical parcours of Harrogate – although a few will do just that – but the Manchester finish comes 15 days before the elite men’s race, giving plenty of time for recovery before the big day. Not surprising then that the field is one of the strongest that the race has ever seen, headed by the prodigious Mathieu Van der Poel, whose victory in the Amstel Gold Race in late April makes him an obvious favourite for Harrogate.

Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) showed he is on form for the rapidly approaching World Championships in Yorkshire, winning the hilly stage to Kendal with a powerful, unequalled, uphill sprint.

The multi-talented cyclo-cross world champion surged past a late breakaway trio and then stomped on the pedals to distance all his rivals and celebrate with his arms in the air. Van der Poel managed to open a three-second gap at the finish line, with Jasper de Buyst (Lotto Soudal) taking second and Australia’s Simon Clarke (EF Education First) third.

Matteo Trentin and his Mitchelton-Scott team did everything they could to control the late attacks but Trentin could not respond when van der Poel opened up his effort with three hundred metres to go and finished ninth.

Thanks to the ten-second stage winner’s time bonus and his three-second advantage; van der Poel took the leader’s green jersey from the Italian. Trentin is one second behind, with De Buyst third at seven seconds.

Thursday’s 14.4km individual time trial near Pershore in South West England will now be vital in deciding the overall classification of the Tour of Britain.

Van der Poel slumped over his bike after his huge effort but soon began to celebrate with his teammates.

“It was a bit of gamble because I didn’t really know where the finish line was,” he explained.

“I got bumped in yesterday and I didn’t want that to happen again today, so I went full gas 300 metres to go. It was a bit far but got I got a gap and the final 100m was a bit easier, so the gap was big enough to keep it to the finish.

“It’s really nice to win this stage. It was a really, really hard stage, with lots of climbing. I think my team did it perfect; we controlled with Matteo Trentin’s guys and then at the end, Otto Vergaerde did an amazing job to get leaders back just in time for me to do my sprint.”

How it happened

The 173.2km stage across northern England from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Kendal was always going to an important battleground for overall victory, with the sprinters knowing the constant short and steep climbs would spark a selection and force them to suffer on the country roads.

The first attacks were quickly pulled back when the flag dropped but then the peloton let Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale) and Dylan Van Baarle (Team Ineos) go clear. They worked hard to open a gap and then Eddie Dunbar jumped across to give Team Ineos extra horsepower in an interesting attack from the British WorldTour team. That forced Mitchelton-Scott to lead the chase in defense of Trentin’s green jersey but used up two of the Team Ineos riders.

The English hills are never long but they are often steep and the road surfaces are grippy, making for hard racing. Dunbar found out the hard way when he blew up and was dropped 60km to go.

Van Baarle tried to go away alone as Domont also faltered but he was caught at the foot of the steep and exposed Gawthorp climb with 34km to go. The speed was high and a series of attacks ignited the racing and split the peloton. Ben Hermans (Israel Cycling Academy) was the first to the top of the climb on the exposed moor and pushed on as a group formed around him. Pavel Sivakov was there for Team Ineos after some surges by Gianni Moscon and other quality riders eventually came together to create a front group of 40 riders.

Trentin had three teammates to help control the attacks in a tactically thrilling final. However, Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale) got away alone with 17km to go and was joined by former Lotto Soudal rider James Shaw (Swift Carbon) and Hermans.

They gradually carved out a gap of 15 seconds as Mitchelton-Scott were left to lead the chase. However, the uphill finish in central Kendal was going to hurt the trio and they quickly lost a few seconds in the final kilometre after giving their all to stay away.

As the gradient began to bite and the road curved right, Van der Poel made his move, stomping on the pedals as if he was on a sandy climb in a cyclo-cross race. It was early but his rivals had no answer, allowing the Dutchman to win alone and take the race lead.

Results :
1 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus 4:23:08
2 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:03
3 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First
4 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Ineos
5 Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Nor) Team Jumbo-Visma
6 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
7 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
8 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
9 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott
10 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal
11 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
12 James Shaw (GBr) Swift Carbon Pro Cycling
13 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Madison Genesis
14 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
15 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
16 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos
17 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
18 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos
19 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
20 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
21 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data
22 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Dimension Data 0:00:14
23 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Education First
24 Mark Christian (GBr) Team Wiggins Lecol
25 Connor Swift (GBr) Madison Genesis
26 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
27 Carlos Verona (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:16
28 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
29 Mark Donovan (GBr) Team Wiggins Lecol
30 Jimmy Janssens (Bel) Corendon-Circus
31 Lucas Eriksson (Swe) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
32 Alexander Kamp (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team 0:00:20
33 Brent van Moer (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:23
34 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:31
35 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:34
36 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
37 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
38 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Ineos
39 Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb
40 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:01:16
41 Ryan Christensen (NZl) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes 0:03:46
42 Thimo Willems (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:03:48
43 Julien Vermote (Bel) Dimension Data 0:03:50
44 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) EF Education First
45 Emil Nygaard Vinjebo (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
46 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
47 Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:04:00
48 Benjamin Perry (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:04:04
49 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Corendon-Circus 0:06:28
50 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:07:15
51 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos
52 Jake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ Continental
53 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
54 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Movistar Team
55 Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
56 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team
57 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
58 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First 0:07:25
59 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:09:25
60 Dries De Bondt (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:14:39
61 Torkil Veyhe (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
62 Rory Townsend (Irl) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes
63 Ethan Vernon (GBr) Great Britain
64 Boris Vallee (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
65 Jim Brown (GBr)
66 Peter Williams (GBr) Swift Carbon Pro Cycling
67 Luis Villalobos (Mex) Aevolo
68 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de
69 Michael Cuming (GBr) Madison Genesis
70 Andreas Nielsen (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
71 Matthew Walls (GBr) Great Britain
72 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Corendon-Circus
73 Alex Colman (Bel) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes
74 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
75 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
76 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team Sunweb
77 Edward Laverack (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling
78 Trond Håkon Trondsen (Nor) Team Coop
79 Bagdonas Gediminas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale
80 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
81 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
82 Jacob Scott (GBr) Swift Carbon Pro Cycling
83 Edward Dunbar (Irl) Team Ineos
84 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:14:45
85 James Fouche (NZl) Team Wiggins Lecol
86 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
87 Jonathan McEvoy (GBr) Madison Genesis
88 Rhys Britton (Gbr) Great Britain
89 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
90 Robert Scott (GBr) Team Wiggins Lecol 0:14:48
91 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
92 Joey Walker (GBr) Madison Genesis
93 Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Team Wiggins Lecol
94 Matthew Bostock (GBr) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes
95 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Madison Genesis
96 Samuel Jenner (Aus) Team Wiggins Lecol
97 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
98 Ben Hardy (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling
99 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
100 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Wanty-Gobert
101 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
102 Erick Rowsell (GBr) Madison Genesis
103 Conor Dunne (Irl) Israel Cycling Academy
104 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:20:52
105 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes 0:20:55
106 Edoardo Affini (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott 0:21:03
107 Harry Tanfield (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
108 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
109 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
110 Thomas Stewart (GBr) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes
111 Rasmus Iversen (Den) Lotto Soudal
112 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:22:45
113 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
114 Tristan Robbins (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling
DNF Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
DNF Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Moreno Hofland (Ned) EF Education First

General Classification after Stage 4 :
1 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus 17:36:27
2 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:01
3 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:07
4 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First 0:00:14
5 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:15
6 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Ineos 0:00:19
7 Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Nor) Team Jumbo-Visma
8 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
9 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
10 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
11 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos
12 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal
13 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos
14 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Madison Genesis
15 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
16 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy 0:00:27
17 James Shaw (GBr) Swift Carbon Pro Cycling
18 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
19 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
20 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
21 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data
22 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Dimension Data 0:00:30
23 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:38
24 Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Education First
25 Connor Swift (GBr) Madison Genesis
26 Mark Christian (GBr) Team Wiggins Lecol
27 Carlos Verona (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:40
28 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
29 Mark Donovan (GBr) Team Wiggins Lecol
30 Lucas Eriksson (Swe) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
31 Jimmy Janssens (Bel) Corendon-Circus
32 Alexander Kamp (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team 0:00:44
33 Brent van Moer (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:47
34 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:50
35 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:55
36 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Ineos 0:00:58
37 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
38 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
39 Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:01:35
40 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:01:40
41 Julien Vermote (Bel) Dimension Data 0:04:06
42 Ryan Christensen (NZl) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes 0:04:10
43 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) EF Education First 0:04:14
44 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos 0:07:30
45 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:07:31
46 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:07:39
47 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
48 Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
49 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team
50 Thimo Willems (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:07:43
51 Emil Nygaard Vinjebo (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team 0:07:45
52 Aaron Verwilst (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:07:55
53 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Corendon-Circus 0:08:10
54 Jake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ Continental 0:11:47
55 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:11:57
56 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:13:26
57 Benjamin Perry (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:14:16
58 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy 0:14:54
59 Edward Dunbar (Irl) Team Ineos
60 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:14:59
61 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:15:03
62 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin 0:15:12
63 Edward Laverack (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling 0:16:23
64 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First 0:17:03
65 Conor Dunne (Irl) Israel Cycling Academy 0:17:09
66 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:18:13
67 Boris Vallee (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:18:26
68 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team Sunweb
69 Matthew Walls (GBr) Great Britain
70 Trond Håkon Trondsen (Nor) Team Coop
71 Ethan Vernon (GBr) Great Britain 0:18:34
72 Luis Villalobos (Mex) Aevolo
73 Alex Colman (Bel) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes
74 Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Team Wiggins Lecol 0:18:35
75 Robert Scott (GBr) Team Wiggins Lecol 0:18:42
76 Rory Townsend (Irl) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes 0:18:49
77 Jim Brown (GBr) 0:18:57
78 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Wanty-Gobert 0:18:59
79 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:19:04
80 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
81 Rhys Britton (Gbr) Great Britain 0:19:23
82 Matthew Bostock (GBr) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes 0:19:30
83 Erick Rowsell (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:19:47
84 Dries De Bondt (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:19:53
85 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:19:54
86 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin 0:20:10
87 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:20:15
88 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Corendon-Circus 0:20:36
89 Jacob Scott (GBr) Swift Carbon Pro Cycling 0:21:06
90 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:21:16
91 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:21:27
92 James Fouche (NZl) Team Wiggins Lecol 0:22:40
93 Peter Williams (GBr) Swift Carbon Pro Cycling 0:22:42
94 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Heizomat Rad-Net.de 0:22:46
95 Samuel Jenner (Aus) Team Wiggins Lecol 0:22:53
96 Ben Hardy (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling 0:23:23
97 Joey Walker (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:24:18
98 Michael Cuming (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:24:30
99 Harry Tanfield (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin 0:25:17
100 Bagdonas Gediminas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale 0:25:20
101 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:27:15
102 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:27:19
103 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:27:52
104 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:28:09
105 Jonathan McEvoy (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:28:35
106 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:29:22
107 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:29:25
108 Thomas Stewart (GBr) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes 0:29:27
109 Edoardo Affini (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott 0:29:54
110 Andreas Nielsen (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team 0:30:05
111 Torkil Veyhe (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team 0:31:24
112 Rasmus Iversen (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:33:38
113 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes 0:34:37
114 Tristan Robbins (GBr) Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling 0:41:41