Tour of Britain 2023 – Stage 3 [LAST 10 KM]

September 5, 2023

Tour of Britain 2023 🇬🇧 – Stage 3 – Goole – Beverley : 154,7 km

The Tour of Britain is the UK’s most established stage-race and one of the biggest chances for semi-professional domestic riders to race alongside some of the top names in the pro peloton. If a young Brit on a domestic squad can perform well here they may just secure a place on a WorldTour team for the following year. As a result stakes are often high in this race, creating a dogged fight all the way from the start to the finish. Formerly known as the Milk Race, this eight-day event has been through many iterations throughout its 77-year history, with some editions being held exclusively for amateur riders. In the late 80s and 90s the race started to open the door to more professional riders, leading to large pelotons consisting of amateur riders desperate for a pro contract, and professional riders looking to get through the stages in one piece.

Jumbo-Visma’s domination at the 2023 Tour of Britain continued on stage 3 in Beverley as race leader Olav Kooij won his third stage in a row, beating Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) to the line after another impeccable lead-out from his Dutch team.

The 21-year-old secured his 10th win of the season after jumping off teammate Wout van Aert’s wheel on the rising road to the line at the end of the 155km stage, holding off Bennett and Ethan Vernon (Great Britain) to secure Jumbo-Visma’s 55th victory of 2023.

The team controlled the peloton for much of the day and were back to the fore in the final kilometres as the likes of Edoardo Affini and Nathan Van Hooydonck led the way for Van Aert and Kooij to repeat what they’d done in the opening two days of the race.

Leading from the front, there was once again little chance that any other sprinter would be beating Kooij, with Van Poppel managing to get closer than anyone had on stages 1 and 2, at least.

155km earlier, right at the start of the race, the trio of James Fouché (Bolton Equities Black Spoke), Harry Tanfield (TDT-Unibet), and Nícolas Sessler (Global 6) formed the break of the day. Mountain classification leader Fouché was striving to collect more points on the two classified climbs on the day as the break’s advantage maxed out at the three-minute mark

Jumbo-Visma controlled the front of the peloton for race leader and double stage winner Olav Kooij, while up front Fouché duly picked up eight more KOM points at the two third-category climbs of the day.

Those climbs – 40 and 80km into the stage – were the main events of a largely quiet day up the road for the break, with Tanfield leading the way over the day’s only intermediate sprint after 110km. By that point, what was once a three-minute gap had closed down to under a minute, with Fouché dropping back early and leaving his two breakaway mates to battle on into the final 40km alone.

Passing that 40km mark, three riders from Saint Piran – Alexandar Richardson, Harry Birchill, and Jack Rootkin-Gray – took a flyer off the front of the peloton, riding a mini team time trial across to the break 30 seconds up the road.

The five leaders held their gap for a handful of kilometres, though with an upping of the pace as the cross/tailwind hit they wouldn’t hold out for much longer as the peloton swallowed them up with 35km to go.

10km later, attacks flew at the head of the peloton as reigning champion Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar) was joined in a strong move by Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma), Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe), Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X), Tim Naberman (dsm-firmenich), Nicolò Parisini (Q36.5), and Bolton Equities Black Spoke pair Matthew Bostock and Jacob Scott.

That group held a 20-second lead as they hit the final 20km, though they weren’t settled, with Politt and Bostock both shooting off the front. Jumbo-Visma pulled behind, bringing the bulk of the attack group back at 17km to go, though Politt and Bostock fought on.

Movistar joined the chase heading into the final 15km, their might combined with Jumbo-Visma surely spelling the end for the two escapees. In the end, Politt gave up the ghost at the 7km mark, while Bostock pushed on a little longer before he was caught at 6.2km.

With that, yet another sprint showdown at the finish was set up as Q36.5 and dsm-firmenich also joined the fray at the front of the peloton. The final 3km would be dominated by WorldTour titans Jumbo-Visma and Ineos Grenadiers, however.

Edoardo Affini and Van Hooydonck led into the final kilometre, setting up the script for Wout van Aert and Kooij to put the final touches on a third victory in a row. Van Hooydonck pulled off at 500 metres to go, leaving Van Aert to power up the final stretch on the uphill finish. Van Poppel and Vernon raced along on Kooij’s wheel, but neither had the power to pull along or get past the Dutchman in the final metres, leaving him and Jumbo-Visma to celebrate once again.

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