Olympic highway race champion Remco Evenepoel received stage 5 of the Tour of Britain as Romain Gregoire held on to a slim total result in arrange an exhilarating closing stage in Wales on Sunday.
Former world champion Evenpoel hit the entrance simply over 300m from the road on the second and closing ascent of the difficult Tumble climb in south Wales and out-sprinted Britain’s Thomas Gloag, with fellow Briton Oscar Onley coming third.
Evenpoel heads into the ultimate day of the race simply two seconds behind France’s Romain Gregoire within the race for the overall classification, with 2018 champion Julian Alaphilippe in third.
“I believe the primary time we climbed we needed to see how we went after which the final three kilometres the wind was blowing fairly exhausting in our face so I knew we must look forward to the dash,” Evenpoel mentioned.
“I do know that after a troublesome day and a tough climb I nonetheless had a great dash [in me] so I simply targeted on that.”
Evenpoel is racing for the primary time since a mixture of sickness and damage compelled him to drop out of the Tour de France in July.
He added: “Tomorrow I have to attempt to go for it [the leader’s green jersey]. It will be tough, I might actually like to go and get a win after an extended interval out of competitors.”
Sunday’s sixth and closing stage takes place over 112.2km between Newport and the Welsh capital Cardiff.
The race will depart from the Geraint Thomas Velodrome on what would be the final day of his profession as a rider, which is able to come to an finish when the Welsh former Tour de France champion crosses the road in his dwelling metropolis.
Thomas says he has held discussions over staying on at Group Ineos, suggesting he’s being lined as much as be a part of the administration construction, relatively than taking up a extra palms on function with riders as a sporting director.
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