Greg Van Avermaet: ‘Lack of leader's jersey could be an advantage’
Belgian magnanimous in defeat as Magnus Cort Nielson beats him on Tour de Yorkshire's summit finish
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Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) is hoping that entering the decisive final stage of the Tour de Yorkshire without the leader’s jersey will give him a tactical advantage in his effort to win the race.
Van Avermaet was the favourite for Friday’s testing summit finish at the Cow and Calf but was beaten to the line by Magnus Cort Nielsen (Astana). The Belgian now sits just four seconds down on GC and with Saturday’s stage expected to finish in a bunch sprint Sunday’s hilly parcours is likely to decide the overall contest.
The Olympic Champion said: “This is a race between some rest for me so I know I’m not in my best shape. I’m happy with how it has gone I’ll just try to survive Sunday, it’s a hard stage, hard to control so maybe it’s not so bad to be in second place.
“We have some guys in the GC maybe Brent [Bookwalter, currently 11 seconds down].. maybe it’s better to have two cards to play in the last stage.”
Van Avermaet launched his sprint on the second stage summit finish with around 450meters left to race but Cort Nielsen reeled him in and came round him. The Belgian said he had no regrets. “I didn’t want to wait any longer I didn’t know who was in my wheel. I think this guy deserved to win he was stronger than me.
Cort Nielsen said: “It was a really hard climb but I was ridden at a stable tempo with few attacks, that suits me. I was sitting there waiting and waiting to open my sprint I went for it an luckily I had the legs.
He added: “It is the perfect day I couldn’t wish for any more… Now you have to hang on two days to go the goal is to keep that jersey now. It’ll be really hard it’s not easy but we’ll fight with everything we have.”
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Having trained as a journalist at Cardiff University I spent eight years working as a business journalist covering everything from social care, to construction to the legal profession and riding my bike at the weekends and evenings. When a friend told me Cycling Weekly was looking for a news editor, I didn't give myself much chance of landing the role, but I did and joined the publication in 2016. Since then I've covered Tours de France, World Championships, hour records, spring classics and races in the Middle East. On top of that, since becoming features editor in 2017 I've also been lucky enough to get myself sent to ride my bike for magazine pieces in Portugal and across the UK. They've all been fun but I have an enduring passion for covering the national track championships. It might not be the most glamorous but it's got a real community feeling to it.
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