Tour of Britain (st. 6)

Fourth breakaway for Madrazo -all but confirmed winner of the KOM jersey, also leading the Sprints- as a battling Nairo Quintana takes 6th in the Tour of Britain's only hilltop finish

It wasn’t the time yet for the Movistar Team to increase their already significant plunder in the 2013 Tour of Britain with a stage victory, having gone through the most favourable day for the Blues in this 10th edition: the only hilltop finish in Haytor, Dartmoor (Cat-1), after 137 explosibe kilometers in the Devon region with three other rated climbs. As it happened in the last two stages, and looking to confirm his leadership in the KOM classification -only having to finish the race Sunday in London to conquer it-, Ángel Madrazo entered the early break for the fourth time in this race, getting caught into the 6km of the final ascent.

Nairo Quintana, well protected by Dowsett and Sanz until its foot, held his nerves up into the first part of the climb and waited for a more serious move by Dan Martin (GRS) to go on the attack. Initially followed by Bongiorno (BAR) and Reichenbach (IAM), the pulling by the Sky riders behind forced him to stay with the group until the uphill sprint, where youngster Simon Yates (GBR) made his finishing kick count as the Colombian came across in 6th, just behind race leader Bradley Wiggins (SKY). Saturday will see Madrazo also fighting to conserve his Intermediate Sprints jersey on day seven of the race: 155km on rolling roads through Surrey, from Epsom to Guildford.  

Picture (c): Tour of Britain 2013 – Larry Hickmott