Just two seconds separate our rider from the overall podium.
It was an action-packed day at the Tour of Britain, one that altered the general classification, which wasn’t a surprise given the challenging nature of the penultimate stage’s parcours.
Greenhow, Kidstones, and Redmeier were the three big hurdles of this hilly parcours that travelled from Helmsey to Leyburn, over 165.8 kilometers. These climbs were used by some of the teams to whittle down the peloton, before the race properly exploded on the last of these ascents, where the remaining bunch was split into several groups on the steep gradients reaching almost 10%.
Following an intense pursuit, the numerous groups merged except for two riders who had initially broken away and put almost a minute into their opponents. Fix ALL Quick-Step’s Jasper Stuyven and Ilan Van Wilder were part of the chasing bunch, and they helped to bring the large group within 20 seconds of the leading duo by the time the final hill began. There, after another noteworthy effort, Jasper secured his second top ten of the week and maintained his fourth place in the overall standings of the race ahead of the final day, which will take the peloton ton Earlstone.
Photo credit: ©George Wood / Getty Images
