Just one day after the stunning finish on Hartside the Tour of Britain greeted the riders with another tough profile. The 192 kilometers from Stoke-on-Trent to Nottingham were everything but flat. In the end Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) outsprinted Edvald Boasson Hagen for the stage win. The 2nd place finish was enough to extend his lead in the overall standings.
The stage started off fast with Sky putting on a fast pace. The British World Tour outfit went into the stage sitting 2nd in the GC. Yesterday’s stage winner Wout Poels was just one second behind Edvald before the stage.
Even though Sky tried hard to set Poels up for the first intermediate sprint, it was Edvald who took the bonus seconds.
After that a lead group with Spaniard Gorka Izaguirre opened up a gap over the Sky-lead group in which Edvald rode watchful.
With his teammates being dropped he waited until the final kilometers. By then Trentin had attacked the leadgroup and Edvald was the only one who managed to bridge across.
The Norwegian national road race champion leads Poels now with 13 second. Third in the overall is Rasmus Guldhammer (Cult Energy).
Edvald Boasson Hagen – Rider
It was a hard stage. I am happy that I could defend the jersey. When we were about to catch Trentin I jumped across. It was good to get a gap to the others so I kept on pulling hard to the finish. We have two more stages to go until the end and I hope to keep the jersey.
