Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) outpaced Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) on the final 100-metre uphill finish at Burton Dassett Hills and won stage 4 of the Tour of Britain Men.
Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) held off Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondaile) for third on the stage.
Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) led the regrouped peloton on the lower slopes of Burton Dassett Hills. Alaphilippe then made his move on the right side of the narrow lane and Grégoire took the left side. The pair of French riders surged side-by-side for a short distance until Grégoire opened a decisive acceleration, which Alaphilippe could not overtake.
How it unfolded
Friday’s stage of the Tour of Britain Men began in Atherston and headed south for 186.9km to Burton Dassett, a challenging hilltop finish to settle accounts after three circuits.
Six categories climbs dotted the second half of the route, Friz Hill (1.2km at 4.3%) the first to hit with 77km to go. Fant HIll (1.1km at 4.3%) and Sun Rising HIll (900 metres at 9.9%) then led to a trio ascents on the stiff 900-metre ascent of Burton Dassett Hills, the final climb crowning a stage winner.
After the opening 6km, four riders settled in as the break of the day – Rory Townsend (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Joshua Golliker (EF Education-Aevolo), Victor Vercouillie (Team Flanders-Baloise) and Cedric Beullens (Lotto). They moved along under sunny skies without disruption while behind Soudal-QuickStep and Team Picnic-PostNL did much of the work to keep them from going beyond three minutes.
Geraint Thomas (Ineos…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…