Sky’s Wout Poels wins Tour of Britain stage five as Boasson Hagen claims overall lead
Dutchman pipped Edvald Boasson Hagen to the line on the race's only summit finish but sits one second behind on GC
Wout Poels (Team Sky) took the stage on the Tour of Britain‘s one and only summit finish to Hartside Fell, but saw the overall lead taken by Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka), who he beat to the line in Cumbria.
The Dutchman had been the most attacking rider on the climb after a reduced group formed as the peloton started the climb with 7.8km to go.
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Ruben Zepunkte (Cannondale-Garmin) was the first to make an attack in earnest, as the main bunch split to pieces, but saw the likes of Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) as well as Poels chase him down.
Kruijswijk was the next to attack, which saw Kennaugh dropped and other riders struggle to hold the pace. Movistar riders Ruben Fernandez and Beñat Intxausti also made into the group behind Kruijswijk, as did GB pair Alex Peters and Tao Geoghagen Hart.
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Poels then attacked to bridge the gap to his compatriot as Boasson Hagen made his way to the group, but there was disaster for the young GB riders as a touch of wheels saw Geoghagen Hart hit the deck with Peters stuck behind.
After more attacks eventually the front group settled into a foursome, with Intxausti joining Boasson Hagen and the Dutch pair in the lead with a fierce headwind blowing on Hartside.
Poels made several moves with around 2km remaining, but was brought back before the Norwegian champion Boasson Hagen went solo with 1.1km to go.
And it looked as though the MTN would make it to the finish, but Poels hung on and caught Boasson Hagen with 150m to go before attacking and taking the stage victory.
Wouter Poels, Steven Kruijswijk, Edvald Boasson Hagen on stage five of the 2015 Tour of Britain (Andy Jones)
Boasson Hagen’s five second advantage over Poels at the start of the day means that he moves into the leader’s yellow jersey, with overall leader Juan José Lobato unable to stick the pace on the climb.
The day had been dominated by Conor Dunne (An-Post – ChainReaction), Mark McNally (Madison-Genesis), Michael Morkov (Tinkoff-Saxo), Pete Williams (ONE) and Morgan Kneisky (Raleigh), who stretched out a maximum gap of about four minutes but never looked likely to hold on.
The gap dwindled for sometime at under a minute, and the break were finally caught with 9.9km to go, just before the action kicked-off on the climb.
Stage six of the week-long tour will see the riders take on an undulating 192.7km course from Stoke-on-Trent to Nottingham, on a day which could be for the breakaway.
Hartside Pass, stage five of the 2015 Tour of Britain (Andy Jones)
Results
Tour of Britain 2015, stage five: Prudhoe to Hartside (164km)
1. Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky, in 4-12-22
2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka, at 2 secs
3. Benat Intxausti (Esp) Movistar, at 17 secs
4. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick-Step, at 18 secs
5. Rasmus Guldhammer (Den) Cult Energy
6. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
7. Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An-Post – ChainReaction
8. Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo
9. Ruben Fernandez (Esp) Movistar
10. Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC, all same time
Edvald Boasson Hagen takes the race lead after stage five of the 2015 Tour of Britain
Overall classification after stage five
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka, in 23-02-36
2. Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky, at 1 sec
3. Rasmus Guldhammer (Den) Cult Energy, at 30 secs
4. Benat Intxausti (Esp) Movistar, at 33 secs
5. Owain Doull (GBr) Team Wiggins, at 37 secs
6. Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC, at 38 secs
7. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick-Step
8. Ruben Fernandez (Esp) Movistar
9. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
10. Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo, all same time