Nicolas Roche gives it everything in the closing stages, much to the delight of the fans by the roadside (Photo: Larry Hickmott – VeloUK.net)
After going close to a stage win and taking the overall lead at the Tour of Britain on the summit finish up The Tumble climb yesterday, Nicolas Roche has again gone on the attack late on today's stage 4.
The Irish man was among six riders to pull time out of the rest of the main favourites, launching himself off the front of the peloton in pursuit of a small breakaway on what was a testing conclusion to the 185km stage from Worcester to Bristol.
The Tinkoff-Saxo man ended the stage in 6th place and now sits 4th overall with five stages remaining; equal on time with third placed Dylan Teuns of BMC Racing.
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The stage was won by the ever-impressive Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), who was so strong yesterday but just fell short of the win when he took 2nd place to Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani CSF).
Sam Bennett (NetApp-Endura) was well off the pace today, coming home in 98th place some 6:56 back. The An Post-Chainreaction Irish duo of Ryan Mullen and Jack Wilson were in a large group 18:02 in arrears.
The race came to life unexpectedly on the short climb of not more than half a kilometre up Bridge Valley Road just 2km before the finish.
At that point, Albert Timmer (Giant Shimano) was leading alone; the last man standing from the early breakaway, with himself Peter Velits (BMC) and Lasse Hansen (Garmin Sharp) having still had one minute on the bunch with 10km remaining before Timmer pushed on alone.
The British public are loving their cycling right now; turning out in their cheering millions for the Tour de France in June and now the Tour of Britain this week (Photo: Larry Hickmott – VeloUK.net)
Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp), who had also been off the front on The Tumble yesterday, jumped after Timmer in the closing stages and got on terms, with the duo looking like they may survive to fight between themselves for the stage win.
However, just behind them it was Roche who took the initiative, jumping on the top of the climb and hunting down the leaders with 2km remaining.
His move sparked Kwiatkowski into action, with the young Pole surging forward, initially with Teuns for company, and catching and passing Roche the leading pair for the stage win.
Timmer was 2nd with Teuns 3rd, Bauer 4th, Jon Izaguirre (Movistar) 5th and then Roche.
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That leading five were all given the same time. So tight was the stage finish that Kwiatkowski only caught the unfortunate Timmer right on the line.
And then six seconds would elapse before Team Sky's Ben Swift won the bunch sprint for 7th; the 33-rider main group containing Zardini in the yellow jersey and defending champion Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky).
Michal Kwiatkowski pouncing from the front of the bunch up the short climb just before the finish and about to drag Jon Izaguirre and Dylan Teuns up to Roche, Bauer and Timmer (Photo: Larry Hickmott – VeloUK.net)
Poor Timmer, left, was up the road for most of the stage in the escape, was the last man standing from it, kept pushing even when it looked like the game was up and was only caught on the line thanks to a superhuman effort from Kwiatkowski (Photo: Larry Hickmott – VeloUK.net)
Stage 4: Worcester - Bristol (185km)
1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 4:19:09
2 Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano
3 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
4 Jack Bauer (NZl) Garmin-Sharp
5 Jon Izagirre Insausti (Esp) Movistar Team
6 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo
7 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:06
8 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team
9 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF
10 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling
11 David Lopez Garcia (Esp) Team Sky
12 Matthieu Boulo (Fra) Team Raleigh
13 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani CSF
14 Leopold König (Cze) Team NetApp-Endura
15 Peter Velits (Svk) BMC Racing Team
98 Sam Bennett (Irl) Team NetApp-Endura 0:06:56
106 Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:18:02
111 Ryan Mullen (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction
General Classification
1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 15:49:33
2 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:00:03
3 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:14
4 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo
5 Jon Izagirre Insausti (Esp) Movistar Team 0:00:23
6 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:27
7 David Lopez Garcia (Esp) Team Sky
8 Leopold König (Cze) Team NetApp-Endura 0:00:29
9 Sébastien Reichenbach (Sui) IAM Cycling
10 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team
11 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling
12 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Garmin-Sharp 0:00:48
13 Jack Bauer (NZl) Garmin-Sharp
14 Steve Lampier (GBr) Giordana Racing Team
15 Jan Barta (Cze) Team NetApp-Endura 0:01:00
96 Sam Bennett (Irl) Team NetApp-Endura 0:18:38
98 Ryan Mullen (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:22:33
113 Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:38:06
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