Nicolas Roche was on the attacking and contesting the climbers' classification on stage 4 of the Tour of Britain, which was won in a sprint from a reduced peloton by Dylan Groenewegen of LottoNl-Jumbo (Photo: Tour of Britain)
Nicolas Roche has again been on the attack at the Tour of Britain and has also been vying for points in the climbers’ classification, though still sits just behind the leader of that classification Xandro Meurisse (Wanty - Groupe Gobert).
Today’s stage 4 took the riders 217km from Denbigh to Builth Wells and while the peloton slimmed down considerably when the pressure was applied on the inclines in the last hour of racing a 60 rider group arrived at the finish to fight for stage honours.
The victory went to Dylan Groenewegen (Team LottoNl-Jumbo) who got a perfect lead out and just held off the fast finishing Dan McLay (Great Britain), with another British rider Ben Swift (Team Sky) in 3rd place.
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Roche and Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) both finished in the bunch on the same time was the winner after 5½ hours in the saddled; in 30th and 37th place respectively.
Damien Shaw (An Post-Chainreaction) came home in a group some 11:54 down, crossing the line in 86th place.
Conor Dunne (JLT Condor) was 99th on the day, in a group 13:25 down, with Ryan Mullen (Cannondale Drapac) 112th some 17:37 down.
The stage was characterised by a breakaway comprising Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF), Matt Holmes (Madison-Genesis), Rob Partridge (NFTO) and Benito Diez (Caja Rural), which built a lead of 5½ minutes.
But with the bunch determined not to let them ride away with the stage, the pressure was really applied for the final hour; efforts by some of the Movistar and Team Sky riders causing the peloton to split with 40km remaining.
Roche was just one of the riders to attack when the last of the breakaway men were swept up, but none of those attacks off the front was successful, paving the way for a bunch sprint.
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Earlier in the day Roche had been first over the climb of Rhydtalog with just over 30km completed, though king of the mountains leader Meurisse was just one place behind.
And when the Belgian took 4th place against Roche’s 5th over the top of Bwich-y-Safan with 79km completed – as the breakaway mopped up points ahead - it was clear the classification leader was going to fight the Irishman all the way.
And at the final categorised climb of the day - Dyfnant Forest after 115km – Meurisse took 6th and his team mate Marco Marcato 5th, with Roche failing to score.
It means Meurisse now leads the classification by two points from Roche.
Julien Vermote (Etixx - Quick-Step) was 5th on the stage and retains his yellow jersey, leading by 6 seconds from Steve Cummings (Dimension Data), with Dan Martin now 5th at 1:04 and Roche 10th at 1:16.
Sept 7th: Stage 4: Denbigh - Builth Wells (217km)
1 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 5:28:49
2 Daniel McLay (GBr) Great Britain
3 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
4 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
5 Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step
6 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
7 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Orica-BikeExchange
8 Nicolas Vereecken (Bel) An Post-Chainreaction
9 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin
10 Diego Rubio (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
30 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky
37 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step
86 Damien Shaw (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:11:54
99 Conor Dunne (Irl) JLT Condor 0:13:25
112 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac 0:17:37
General Classification
1 Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step 18:22:04
2 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 0:00:06
3 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:03
4 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
5 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:01:04
6 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 0:01:08
7 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:12
8 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin
9 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty - Groupe Gobert
10 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:01:16
93 Damien Shaw (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:27:12
95 Conor Dunne (Irl) JLT Condor 0:28:09
103 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac 0:32:33
Climbers' Classification
1 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 39 pts
2 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 37
3 Kristian House (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 26
4 Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor 22
5 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky 21
6 Peter Williams (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 20
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