The uphill finish of today's stage 3 at the Tour of Britain may not have split the field to pieces, but some gaps still opened.
And Ireland's Eddie Dunbar (Team Ineos) was on the right side of one such split approaching the line at Newcastle Upon Tyne.
The stage was won by Dylan Groenewegen; the Jumbo Visma man taking his second win of the race in a bunch sprint having triumphed on Saturday in the same way.
He took the victory today from Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon Circus) and Davide Cimolai (Israel Cycling Academy).
Matteo Trentin, who won yesterday's stage, took 5th place which saw the Mitchelton-Scott rider retain the race lead.
Eddie Dunbar was 22nd on the stage, on the same time as the winner.
Crucially only the first 27 riders across the line got the same time, with a gap of eight seconds to the next group.
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Rory Townsend, the Irish Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes rider, was in the early breakaway again today.
He had gone on the attack on stage 1, taking the sprints classification jersey and the most aggressive rider award.
He took back that sprints jersey today thanks to his efforts off the front; another great performance by the 24-year-old.
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Go behind the scenes at today's third @OVOEnergy Tour of Britain 🇬🇧 stage between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.#OVOToB pic.twitter.com/Q9XnmiWPvZ
— Lloyds Tour of Britain (@TourofBritain) September 9, 2019
Townsend paid the price for his stage 1 efforts yesterday when he lost time on stage 2. He also lost 40 seconds today when the bunch split on the incline to the finish line.
However, his going back into a classification leader's jersey is a great result for him and his Continental team.
Conor Dunne (Israel Cycling Academy) was again assisting his team sprinter Cimolai, who is 2nd today and is also 2nd overall.
The stage result means Trentin is now leading overall by seven seconds from the Italian, with Van der Poel 3rd at 11 seconds.
Dunbar is now among a group of just 14 riders some 17 seconds down on the race leader; the Irish rider in 20th place.
There are a couple of minor climbs towards the finish tomorrow in Kendal at the end of the 173.2km stage.
If there are attacks over those climbs they may suit Dunbar, though the sprinters may also have another day.
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