All Change at the Tour of Britain – Almost

Wout Van Aert gave Jumbo-Visma it’s 960th team victory with the Stage 5 win in Felixstowe bring to end teammate Olav Kooij’s run to wins. The Belgian also took over the race lead after her managed to finish 3 seconds clear of the bunch, making it the only thing that didn’t change on the day.

Stage 5 Top 10 and GC

Olav Kooij continues his dominance at the Tour of Britain

Jumbo-Visma’s ace sprinter made it four from four with the win in Newark-on-Trent, equalling the record for consecutive stage wins set by Edvald Boasson Hagen at the 2009 Tour.

The Dutchman once again benefited from a brilliant lead-out from his Jumbo – Visma team-mate Wout van Aert after the likes of TRINITY Racing, BORA – hansgrohe, and INEOS Grenadiers attempted to form their own trains approaching the historic town’s finish line.

Casper van Uden (Team dsm – firmenich) placed second, with Ethan Vernon (Great Britain) continuing his consistent week by placing third.

Unsurprisingly, Kooij continues to lead the race’s general classification and tops the standings in the cottages.com points and Sportive Breaks best young rider competitions.

A bunch sprint was always on the cards after two TDT – Unibet Cycling Team riders – Brit Harry Tanfield and Belgian Abram Stockman – were caught 27.5 kilometres outside of Newark-on-Trent.

Kooij said; “We’re just going day by day and it’s been amazing so far. The hat trick was already special and now four out of four is amazing.” He continues “I’m really happy with what we’ve done so far and I hope to keep it going.”

Jumbo – Visma started to lose position at the three-kilometre mark but he always trusted his team to get him back into perfect position. “The guys in front of me are strong enough to move through the wind and move up if it’s necessary. It’s never really smooth to get through the last few hundred metres, so sometimes you need to stay calm and know when it’s your time to move up. If we stay together, it’s a big advantage”

Stockman (TDT – Unibet) and Pinarello King of the Mountains leader James Fouche (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) attacked from the official start with Stockman’s teammate Harry Tanfield joining the duo one-kilometre later.

Tanfield and Fouche make this day number three in the break so far after spending most of stage one and three out the front together, and TDT – Unibet keeping up their appearances of being in a breakaway of every stage of this year’s Tour of Britain

As expected Fouche took maximum points at the first classified climb on Kilton Hill. Shortly after Tanfield rolled through to victory at the cottages.com intermediate sprint in Broughton.

Fouche extended his lead in the Pinarello King of the Mountains classification by being the summit of the second classified climb at Red Hill Lane. The Kiwi decided his race was over after collecting his points, sat up and retreated back to the peloton, leaving the duo of TDT – Unibet riders ahead with 80-kilometres left.

The duo kept the gap between themselves and the peloton at around the minute mark until the break was eventually caught at the 27km mark, when Dimitri Peyskens (Bingoal WB) and Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo – Visma) attacked from the peloton to end the duo’s hopes.

TRINITY and INEOS Grenadiers were the biggest antagonists of the bunch, pushing the pace in the peloton, but it was Jumbo – Visma once again who took control into the final right-hand corner with a perfectly drilled lead out.

Super domestique turned super lead out man Wout Van Aert led out his sprinter from 700 metres to go, the Belgian peeled away at 150 metres to go with his sprinter in perfect position to power to victory and make it four from four.

For full results and standings please click here.

Highlights of stage four will be broadcast on ITV4 in the UK at 20:00 on Wednesday 6 September and available on demand via ITVX for 30 days.

Stage five of the Tour of Britain sees the race return to Suffolk for the first time since 2017. Felixstowe will host both the start and finish of the longest stage of the 2023 Tour at 192 kilometres. The stage begins at 10:45 with more details here.

About the Tour of Britain

Stages

Stage one       Sunday 3 September              Altrincham to Manchester

Stage two       Monday 4 September             Wrexham to Wrexham

Stage three    Tuesday 5 September Goole to Beverley

Stage four      Wednesday 6 September       Sherwood Forest to Newark-on-Trent

Stage five       Thursday 7 September           Felixstowe to Felixstowe

Stage six        Friday 8 September                Southend-on-Sea to Harlow

Stage seven   Saturday 9 September            Tewkesbury to Gloucester

Stage eight    Sunday 10 September            Margam Country Park to Caerphilly

Teams

UCI WorldTeams: BORA – hansgrohe (Germany), INEOS Grenadiers (Great Britain), Jumbo – Visma (Netherlands), Movistar Team (Spain), Team dsm-firmenich (Netherlands)

UCI ProTeams: Bingoal WB (Belgium), Bolton Equities Black Spoke (New Zealand), Equipo Kern Pharma (Spain) Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team (Switzerland), Team Flanders – Baloise (Belgium), Uno-X Pro Cycling Team (Norway)

UCI Continental Teams: Global 6 Cycling (New Zealand), Saint Piran (Great Britain), TDT-Unibet Cycling Team (Netherlands), TRINITY Racing (Great Britain)

National Teams: Great Britain Cycling Team