The Frenchman was again in a league of his own.
Soudal Quick-Step reached 30 victories this season after Paul Magnier blasted to another win at the Tour of Britain, in what was a nail-biting finish in Northampton, where the breakaway got caught with only 700 meters to go.
Three men animated stage five, putting two minutes into the peloton, a gap which was reduced by just half a minute by the time they entered the last 20 kilometers. It took an incredibly long and determined pull of double Olympic Champion Remco Evenepoel – racing for the 300th time in his career with the Soudal Quick-Stpe jersey on his shoulders – to bring the peloton within distance of the trio, the effort Soudal Quick-Step’s Belgian put in there turning out to be crucial at the end of the stage.
As it happened in the previous two days that came down to a mass gallop, Julian Alaphilippe devoted his energies to working for his countryman, expertly putting him in an excellent position for the final 500 meters. Magnier hit the front in the last 200 meters and completely unbothered by the uphill drag to the line, he swept past all his opponents producing a superb turn of speed that landed him his third stage win at this edition.
“I don’t have the words to tell you what it means to me to take three wins at the Tour of Britain. The team put in a great team performance today. It wasn’t easy to catch the breakaway, but Remco did an incredible effort to cut the gap, and then Julian brought me to the front while I saved my energy. I was able to do another good sprint. We have one more stage here and we hope to be in the mix on Sunday, when there should be another bunch sprint”, said Paul after mathematically winning the points jersey.
Photo credit: ©SWpix
