Tour of Britain (st. 4)

Costa Rican from Movistar Team shows great attitude into final split, enters overall top-ten, now 10th at 19" from spectacular Kendal winner Mathieu Van der Poel (COC).

Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel (COC) showed again his impressive quality with an astonishing sprint up the Beast Banks slope, end of the first mid-mountain stage in the 2019 Tour of Britain in the North Pennines, 173km from Gateshead to Kendal.

The climb to Gawthorp Hill (Cat-3), located 35km from the end, made a selection of candidates to win the GC on Sturday, with only 40 riders together including three from the Movistar Team: Carlos Verona, Eduardo Sepúlveda and Andrey Amador. The Costa Rican showed great attitude afterwards – having already been quite attentive and near the front into the opening three days’ sprints – and spent most of the finale seeking for a move to split the leading peloton.

In the end, the inevitable bunch sprint saw Van der Poel putting three seconds on a first split with Andrey (17th), supported by Edu and Carlos, who both finished 16″ down. The new GC sees Amador now placed in 10th spot, 19″ behind VDP, with four stages still to go: a difficult final slope near Birkenhead Park (Wed); a 14km ITT in and around Pershore (Thu); the tough climbs of Burton Dassett (Fri); and a flatter finish, with some early hills, en route to the last finish line in Manchester (Sat).

Cover picture (c): SWPix