Stevie Williams rode to a back-to-back victory in South Yorkshire for the second day running at the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men to extend his lead at the top of the general classification.
The Welsh rider fired to the line in Barnsley for Israel-Premier Tech, holding off first stage winner Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) in damp conditions to extend his overall lead to 16 seconds, with British riders filling the top four spots in the general classification.
The riders tackled 2,282m of climbing over the 166km, taking in all four boroughs of South Yorkshire, starting on Arundel Gate in Sheffield city centre, and passing through Rotherham and Doncaster, before an uphill finish on County Way in Barnsley.
Yorkshire native Ben Swift (INEOS Grenadiers) launched the first big move of the day, and was quickly joined by Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) and Jake Stewart (Israel - Premier Tech). The trio quickly established a gap to the peloton on the twisty lanes skirting the Peak District outside Sheffield.
Jelte Krijnsen (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) bridged across to make the group swell to a quartet as they reached the first King of the Mountains climb on Long Lane, with the group's advantage dangling around 30 seconds in front of the peloton as Alaphilippe took the points. The ferocious pace set by Israel - Premier Tech saw the peloton reduce significantly, with riders dropped on the hills of South Yorkshire.
With just under 120km to go, the leaders widened the advantage to the peloton by just over a minute but the bunch were working hard to close the gap. Allaphilippe took the second King of the Mountain points of the day up Jawbone Hill ahead of Stewart.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) stormed to the front of the race, closing the gap to just 11 seconds as Krijnsen won the intermediate sprint in Tickhill ahead of Swift and Stewart. The peloton reeled the break in as the four riders sat back.
Soudal Quick-Step continued to work on the front, making the peloton splinter, putting race leader Stevie Williams (Israel - Premier Tech) under pressure with 83km to go.
With 65km remaining, a promising 10-man break formed, including British champion Ethan Hayter (INEOS Grenadiers) and Magnier, but they were quickly foiled.
Tobias Foss (INEOS Grenadiers) quickly counter-attacked up a climb, taking Gil Gelders (Soudal Quick-Step) with him. Louis Sutton (Great Britain Cycling Team), points leader Julius Johansen (Sabgal/Anicolour), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), Nickolas Zukowsky (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Noa Isidore (Decathalon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team) and Oscar Nilsson-Julien (Van Rysel-Roubaix) bridged over to form a strong front group.
Sporting a ripped jersey after an earlier crash, young rider Sutton continued to show his gutsy talent, and as the leading group racked up a 50 second lead, it provisionally put the British rider into the leader’s jersey. Sensing the threat, Israel - Premier Tech got to the front of the chasing peloton and put the hammer down with 50km to go.
The head of the race continued to work well together with a fast pace, dropping Nilsson-Julien in the process. Ethan Vernon (Israel - Premier Tech) took to the front of the peloton in a bid to close the one-minute gap, while Foss continued to power in the leading bunch.
Inside the final 25km, the bunch maintained a minute gap with Bahrain Victorious controlling the pace from the peloton. A huge effort from Israel - PremierTech saw them quickly reduce the advantage to 34 seconds as the rain continued to fall, seeing Evenepoel distanced from the main group.
Attacks from the front came thick and fast, with Johansen, Foss, Isidore, Gelders and Abrahamsen establishing a lead with 15km remaining. As the rest of the breakaway group were caught by the peloton, the five-man lead had a gap of just 13 seconds.
The leaders were caught inside the final 6km, with Gelders putting in a few more counter-attacks that came to nothing. Coming up the final climb, the peloton was reduced to 20 riders as they pushed on the pace.
Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) put in a huge attack with less than 5km to go, taking the King of the Mountain points up Hound Hill, with Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) straight onto his wheel, but as the pair descended, they were reeled back into the peloton.
With 700m remaining, the road kicked up and it was all to play for. Pidcock attacked and looked in good form, but Williams was unstoppable, taking his second victory of the week. Magnier finished second in a tense sprint to the line against Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious).
Williams’ sprinting win for a second day in a row also sees him lead in the points classification as the Welsh rider currently sits 16 seconds ahead of youngster Onley on the general classification. Onley leads the best young rider classification, while fellow Scot Callum Thornley (TRINITY Racing) will continue to wear the King of the Mountain jersey. After his attacking antics in the break today and battling back from the crash, Sutton was given the Combativity award.
Speaking after the stage, Williams said: “It was a really hard day, really demanding. It was a real privilege to be a part of, the team were unbelievable, exceptional. The way they rode that and controlled it was amazing. I’m really proud to bring it across the line. I did the last kilometre, but they did the four hours before it.
“I think everyone had to attack us and in the end a group did get away, but they didn’t get much of a gap and the race opened up again. It was a bit of a mess, it turned into a bit of a casino after a few of hours. We got it back under control and the boys did an exceptional job all day.”
Stage four on Friday 6 September sees the East Midlands stage of the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men, starting from outside of Derby Arena at 11am, and finishing alongside Sconce & Devon Park in Newark-on-Trent after 138.5 kilometres of racing. Live coverage on ITV4 begins at 10.45am.
