Boasson Hagen extends Tour of Britain lead as Trentin wins stage six

Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) went on the attack in the yellow jersey at the end of stage six of the Tour of Britain and almost won on the day as he extended his lead to 13 seconds.

Matteo Trentin (Etixx-Quick Step), part of the day's strong breakaway, took the win, outsprinting Boasson Hagen in Nottingham to take his team's third win of the race.

The British teams were nowhere to be seen in the day's breakaway, made up entirely of WorldTour teams.

Trentin, Stefan Küng (BMC), Sebastian Langeveld (Cannondale-Garmin), Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Bram Tankink (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Jens Debusschere (Lotto-Soudal) held a gap of around one minute for most of the stage, with most eventually being caught at 7km to go.

Behind the breakaway, Team Sky worked hard on the front of the peloton all day to bring the gap down with Izagirre a threat to take the yellow jersey should he stay away.

Further back down the road a large grupetto had formed early in the hilly stage, with the likes of Sir Bradley Wiggins (Team Wiggins), Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) and Elia Viviani (Team Sky) in perennial danger of missing the time cut.

With the breakaway stubbornly holding on to a 35s advantage into the final 11km, Sky sent Wout Poels to the front in an attempt to bring them back and even yellow jersey-wearer Boasson Hagen did a very long stint, even continuing after the dangerous men in the break were caught.

Trentin and Küng tried their luck, with the Etixx rider taking a very slender advantage into the final three kilometres. Boasson Hagen, after his hard work on the front, then launched his attack 2.5km from the line, leaving Poels and Taylor Phinney to lead the chase for the Norwegian.

Boasson Hagen caught and passed Trentin, but the Italian sat on his wheel on the run to the line and eventually sped past the Norwegian in the final 100m, with the chasing pack crossing the line four seconds later.

Young Brit Owain Doull continued his impressive week by finishing third, while Thursday's stage winner Wout Poels remains in second, 13 seconds back on Boasson Hagen.

Tour of Britain, stage five: Stoke-on-Trent - Nottingham (192.7km)

1. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx-Quick Step, 4-45-27

2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka, st

3. Owain Doull (GBr) Team Wiggins, at 4s

4. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick-Step

5. Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto-Soudal

6. Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Garmin

7. Alex Peters (GBr) Great Britain

8. Dylan Theuns (Bel) BMC

9. Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An Post-Chain Reaction

10. Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky, all same time

Overall classification after stage five

1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka, in 27-47-54

2. Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky, at 13s

3. Rasmus Guldhammer (Den) Cult Energy, at 43s

4. Owain Doull (GBr) Team Wiggins, at 44s

5. Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC, at 51s

6. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick-Step

7. Ruben Fernandez (Esp) Movistar

8. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

9. Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An Post-Chain Reaction

10. Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo, all same time