photo credits @ Tour of Britain
Rohan Dennis (BMC) won the penultimate stage of the Tour of Britain today, with a late attack that saw the Australian rider power his way clear during the final kilometers to claim the stage victory by six seconds over the peloton.
Meanwhile, Maximiliano Richeze (Etixx-QuickStep) led the main field across the line, with Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) taking third.
With today’s victory, Dennis managed to close the gap on race leader Stephen Cummings by 26 seconds.
However, the Dimension Data rider managed to finish safely in the peloton to maintain his grip on the overall race lead.
Race Highlights
Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) marked the day’s first attack, subsequently instigating the first breakaway group which contained Danny van Poppel (Trek-Segafredo), Gorka Izaguirre (Movistar) and Diego Rubio (Caja Rural).
From there, the quartet worked together for a major portion of today’s 90 kilometer route, which was comprised of six 15 kilometer laps around Bristol.
Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) was visible for a long stretch at the front of the bunch, working for his teammate Cummings, before peeling off.
As the race hit the final lap, the breakaway group was holding onto a slim 55-second lead over the peloton.
Greipel remained the most animated of the escapees, putting in an attack off the front just before the final crossing of the Clifton suspension bridge with 12 kilometers to go.
Ian Standard (Sky) then hit the front of the peloton in order to increase the effort to chase down the breakaway group, while Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) clung to his wheel.
Greipel and Izaguirre were the first to get caught with 5 kilometers to go.
Van Poppel then attacked Rubio, but his efforts were short-lived as both riders were caught just inside the 4 kilometer mark.
Dennis attacked during the final climb, losing both Cummings and Tom Dumoulin along the way, and ultimately went on to seize the stage honors.
Top 20 Finishers
1 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 1:58:42 2 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:00:06 3 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 4 Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky 5 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 6 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 7 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Orica-BikeExchange 8 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 9 Marco Marcato (Ita) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 10 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 11 Dion Smith (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 12 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 13 Russell Downing (GBr) JLT Condor 14 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 15 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 16 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 17 Ruben Zepuntke (Ger) Cannondale-Drapac 18 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 19 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:00:10 20 Mark Christian (GBr) Team WIGGINS
General classification after stage 7b
1 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 29:21:21 2 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:26 3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:38 4 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal 0:01:02 5 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:21 6 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:01:26 7 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:01:48 8 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:52 9 Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:02:12 10 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:32 11 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:02:52 12 Mark Christian (GBr) Team WIGGINS 0:04:02 13 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:04:33 14 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Great Britain 0:05:23 15 Erick Rowsell (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:05:41 16 Dion Smith (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 0:06:10 17 Steven Lampier (GBr) JLT Condor 0:07:05 18 Gorka Izaguirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:07:36 19 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:07:54 20 Domingos Gonçalves (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:08:11
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