Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) started the Tour of Britain’s fourth stage with the aim of overturning the 12-second lead held by NSN’s Lewis Askey by the finish in Leyburn.
UAE set out their stall early on the first climbs of the day to try and put pressure on Askey and their other GC rivals with 2,699 metres of elevation on the 165.8km stage from Helmsley across the Vale of York and into the Yorkshire Dales via the city of Ripon. It is on the limit of Askey’s climbing abilities on paper but he has been in superb form going into this race.
“I prefer to have 12 seconds advantage than 12 seconds behind,” Wellens told Velora before the start. “Today’s a day that should suit me. Normally I climb a little bit better than Askey, but everybody sees he’s in top shape and it will not be easy to drop him, but we need to try.”
Askey got his lead thanks to a superb ride on Michaelgate in Lincoln on stage 1 where the British rider forced the initial move then pulled back a late move from UAE’s Florian Vermeersch before riding clear to the win. Wellens finished third and began stage 4 second overall after two windswept sprint stages, while Vermeersch remained another tactical option at 25 seconds.
Headwind complicates UAE’s attacks
Stage 4 offered more climbing than the Lincoln opener, although Wellens identified the weather as a potential obstacle to racing aggressively from distance.
“The important factor is 80 kilometres headwind, so that will not be easy to make the others suffer,” he said. “But then we have the three categorised climbs which will be very important for this stage victory and GC.”
The route is into a headwind all the way to the first climb of the day at Greenhow Hill where the race heads north with a crosswind hitting the riders until the top of the climb at Redmire onto Grinton Moor. After that it is largely a tailwind or crosswind, with a headwind for the final 1.5km. There are several opportunities to attack on the way to the finish.
UAE also have to account for riders immediately behind Wellens. Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) began the day 19 seconds from the lead, while Jasper Stuyven (Soudal-Quickstep) and Daan Hoole (Decathlon CMA CGM) were both at 21 seconds. An attack involving any of them would threaten Askey while also putting pressure on Wellens’s second place.
Vermeersch gives UAE the advantage of having numbers in the GC fight, but it is unclear whether the Classics star will be able to compete with the best on the steep climbs in the Dales.
Askey has already shown that he has great legs and is coming into the final stages looking really good against his rivals with Wellens needing to gap him by at least two seconds and take the stage win to draw level on time.
Sunday’s difficult final stage in the Scottish Borders gives Wellens another chance if the headwind prevents meaningful gaps on stage 4. For now, UAE’s work at the front showed it was unwilling to leave the entire contest until Earlston.
