Adrian Palomares (Fuerteventura-Canarias) took Tour of Britain stage four after he and two companions got away from the decisive 26-rider attack on the Cow and Calf climb just outside Bradford.
Palomares beat Belgian Tom Stubbe (Chocolade Jacques) and fellow Spaniard David Blanco (Duja Tavira), finishing 12 seconds ahead of the chasers. Thanks to the ten-second time bonus for winnig the stage, Palomares also pulled on the race leader's yellow jersey after Nikolai Trusov (Tinkoff) finished in the main bunch 57 seconds adrift of the attackers.
Palomares now leads Blanco by a second. Australia's Luke Roberts (CSC) is third at eight seconds. Romain Feillu (Agritubel) won the sprint for fourth place 12 seconds after the leaders passed the finish line. Highest placed British rider was John Bellis at 7th. British rider Ben Swift retains the King of the Mountains jersey.
The day's racing was marred by a bizarre neutralised section through North Yorkshire as a result of no permission being given to the event organisers to enable them to race on the area's roads. Officials and police neutralised the racing for 21 miles and escorted the riders on semi-open roads until they left the North Yorkshire roads.
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