It was a race for the French riders at the Tour of Britain today, as Romain Grégoire (Groupama FDJ) sprinted to the win in the final moments of the race’s longest stage, with Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) coming in second.
It had looked to be Sam Watson’s (Ineos Grenadiers) shot at victory with just 500 metres to the finish, as the Brit pushed to the head of the race. However, Alaphilippe quickly took the inside line around Watson, with Grégoire accelerating on the outside, eclipsing the Brit. Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) rounded out the podium in third.
Grégoire now leads the general classification with two seconds on Matthew Brennan, and Alaphilippe. The gaps in the GC remain small enough for big changes to come in tomorrow's race on the iconic climb of the Tumble, as the 133.5 kilometre race takes two turns on the twelve minute climb.
"I'm really happy with this victory," Grégoire said after the race.
"It was a really big achievement for me, I know the final was good for me, the whole team did an amazing job. The team really deserved it and I'm really happy for me and them."
Today's race took shape on the first circuit loop of Burton Dassett Hill (0.9km at 7.3%), after a small breakaway dominated the first three climbs, Victor Cercouillie (Flanders-Baloise) collecting the majority of the KOM points on offer in the first half of the race. Remco Evenopoel showed his hand on this last climb, pushing to the head of the group, displaying his determination to get ahead as Brit's Josh Golliker (EF Education-Aevelo) and Watson alternated in the lead. But it was in the last moments of the race that the two Frenchmen emerged, biding their time until their final attacks.
"[The climbs were] really hard," Grégoire continued.
"Riders like Remco want to have a hard race and attacked far from the finish to make the race hard but it was good for me, it was perfect [...] At the moment, I feel good, but tomorrow is another day, the final is even harder, a 5km climb, so we will see tomorrow but I'm ready to fight. When you have a jersey like this you have the motivation to battle for it and that's what I'm going to do."
"The atmosphere in the final climb was really good, really happy to win in front of the British crowd."
ResultTour of Britain stage four: Atherstone > Burton Dassett Hills Country Park (186.9km)
1. Romain Grégoire (Fra) Groupama FDJ, in 4:06:18
2. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, at some time
3. Edoardo Zambanini (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +2s
4. Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
5. Elias Maris (Bel) Flanders - Baloise
6. Tim Torn Teutenberg (Ger) Lidl-Trek
7. Toon Aerts (Bel) Lotto
8. Andreas Stokbro (Den) Unibet Tietema Rockets
9. Brady Gilmore (Aus) Israel-Premier Tech
10. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain-Victorious, all at same time
General classification after stage four
1. Romain Grégoire (Fra) Groupama FDJ, in 13:55:08
2. Matthew Brennan (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2s
3. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, at same time
4. Mats Wenzel (Lux) Equipo Kern Pharma, +6s
5. Sam Watson (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +8s
6. Edoardo Zambanini (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, at same time
7. Andreas Stokbro (Den) Unibet Tietema Rockets, +9s
8. Brady Gilmore (Aus) Israel-Premier Tech, +12s
9. Milan Vader (Ned) Q36.5 Pro Cyclists
10. Tim Torn Teutenberg (Ger) Lidl-Trek, both at same time
