Magnier Makes it Three: Frenchman Seals Thrilling Hat-Trick in Tour of Britain Stage 5 Showdown
Tour of Britain Stage 5: Paul Magnier Secures Third Consecutive Sprint Victory
The second half of the Tour of Britain (UCI2.Pro) offers many opportunities for sprinters. Stage 5 is a 150km course starting and ending in Northampton, a city in the mid-east of England, with an elevation gain of just 1,300m, making it a relatively easy race.
As soon as the flag to start the race was waved from the director’s car, 22-year-old Rasmus Pederson (Denmark, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team) took off and broke away, joined by Connor Swift (Great Britain, Ineos Grenadiers) and Matthew Holmes (Great Britain, British National Team), who will race on roads and gravel as a private professional after leaving Lotto Soudal in 2022. They pulled away from the main group in typical British weather, choked with fog.
After the three riders broke away, Remco Evenepoel (Belgium, Soudal-QuickStep) and Julian Alaphilippe (France, Soudal-QuickStep) tried to chase, but they were unable to shake off the control of Israel Premier Tech. The race continued with the three riders in the breakaway + main group until the final stages.
The three breakaways showed excellent pace-making while reading the movements of the group. Although they were within one minute of each other with 35km remaining, they maintained a time difference of 1 minute 20 seconds with 20km remaining, 50 seconds with 10km remaining, and 30 seconds with 4km remaining, which was enough to light the possibility of a breakaway. However, every time Olympic champion Evenepoel pulled in the main group, the time difference was reduced, and they were absorbed with 500m remaining. While each team was in a jumble and waiting for the right timing, points leader Paul Magnier (France, Soudal-QuickStep) started sprinting first.
Magnier won by taking the shortest line and holding off Ethan Vernon (Great Britain, Israel Premier Tech). The 20-year-old, who just turned professional this year from Trinity Racing, took his third consecutive sprint victory.
“I’m overjoyed to have won three races in a row. It wasn’t easy to catch the breakaway, but Remco put in incredible effort to close the gap, and Julien led me out, allowing me to save my energy behind him. Tomorrow is likely to be a mass sprint again, so I’ll be ready to go,” said Magnier.
Also, Pederson, who had been caught by the breakaway, managed to push himself back and finish in 5th place. Overall leader Steven Williams (Great Britain, Israel Premier Tech) finished safely and is just one step away from the overall victory.