The Colombian nabbed the victory on stage 4 of the Tour of Britain and scored Quick-Step Floors' 100th top-3 finish of the season.
Fernando Gaviria notched his ninth win of the season after a textbook lead-out of Zdenek Stybar and Maximiliano Richeze in Newark-on-Trent, where the 164.7km-long stage four of the Tour of Britain concluded.
The Giro d'Italia maglia ciclamino, who in the United Kingdom is making his first stage race appearance in three months, was brought to the front of the peloton by his teammates with two kilometers remaining, before being delivered in an ideal position with 200 meters to go and opening his powerful sprint.
Gaviria, who despite missing several races through injury this summer is still enjoying his best season to date, held off the charges of Elia Viviani (Team Sky) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) and came out on top in Wednesday's tight finish, notching up the team's 21st victory at the Tour of Britain and moving to third in the general classification ahead of the race's 16.2km individual time trial.
"I came here after a leg injury, so I've been missing a bit of condition and form, but day after day things went better and today I felt good and could take advantage of this. It's a nice feeling and a relief to taste victory again, especially as the last time I was in this situation happened more than three months ago, at the Giro", said Fernando after the win that moved Quick-Step Floors at the top of the team classification.
The 23-year-old Colombian – one of the most successful riders of the season – had only words of praise for his teammates, whose invaluable help made the difference in Newark-on-Trent: "The boys were spectacular! Philippe protected me going into the last ten kilometers, then Zdenek and Max took over and guided me in the final. I'm happy I could repay them by taking the stage and I hope to get other good results before the Tour of Britain will come to a conclusion."
Fernando Gaviria's victory marked Quick-Step Floors' 100th podium of the season, making our team the only one to hit this barrier. Of these, 48 came in the form of victories scored by 14 different riders across 25 races.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele
