The 26-year-old is just six seconds off the lead ahead of Thursday's team time trial.
Victorious on stage 3 of the Tour of Britain, Julian Alaphilippe enjoyed a quiet day in the peloton, as the riders left behind Nuneaton for Leamington Spa, the small town which can be found not far from Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Six riders got green light from the bunch to sail away and carve out a four-minute advantage, which Quick-Step Floors' Iljo Keisse reduced after an amazing amount of work he put in at the head of the pack for countless hours, until the closing kilometers of the race.
With 500 meters to go, a left-hand bend caused chaos and disrupted the expected bunch sprint, blowing to pieces the lead-out trains; from this hectic situation, it was Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) the one who took advantage and crossed the line victorious ahead of Sacha Modolo (EF Education First) and Patrick Bevin (BMC), the leader of the general classification.
Julian Alaphilippe continues to sit in third overall and together with his Quick-Step Floors teammates will look forward to the stage 5 time trial, which despite being short – 14 kilometers – can create interesting gaps between the overall contenders, who after Thursday's collective effort against the clock between Cockermouth and Whinlatter Pass will have only one more stage in which they could gain or make up ground.
Photo credit: ©Mathias Hangst/ Getty Images
