Mathieu
van der Poel (Corendon Circus) has retaken the leader’s jersey at the Tour of
Britain after today’s stage 6 TT in Pershore.
The
Dutch rider said the 14.4km flat test was his first proper time trial since his
junior days, adding he was very happy to finish 6th and take over race
leadership again.
He
also cited the man he dislodged from the leader’s green jersey, Matteo Trentin
of Mitchelton-Scott, as his main rival for overall victory.
“I kind of surprised myself. The last
real time trial I did was when I was a junior, that’s a long time ago. I’m
really satisfied with the performance and I liked it out there today,” he said.
“It’s going to be a hard race for sure
the next few days. Matteo is my closest opponent and he already showed that
he’s fast in the end as well.
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“With the bonus seconds, it’s going to
be really tight battle until the last day,” he added
with two stages remaining.
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“The riders from INEOS are also not that
far behind and they have a really strong team here.
“They’ve already showed that. I think there a lot of riders who can still win the race.”
Italian rider Edoardo Affini (Mitchelton
Scott) took victory in the stage today; his time of 16:39 some 7 seconds faster
than Sebastian Langeveld (EF Education First).
Dylan van Baarle (Team Ineos) was 3rd, also at 7 seconds, with Luke Durbridge
(Mitchelton Scott) next at 8 second.
Tanel Kangert (EF Education First) was 5th at 10 seconds followed by van der Poel
who was 12 seconds down.
The result now sees a very strong trio
at the head of the general standings; van der Poel leading by six seconds from
Trentin with Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos) 3rd at 24 seconds.
Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar (Team Ineos) was
36th today at 49 seconds. Conor Dunne (Israel Cycling Academy) was 53rd at 1:15
and Rory Townsend (Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes) was 104th at 2:45; retaining his
sprints classification jersey.
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