Promising French sprinter Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) darted to his second victory at the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men on Friday, pipping Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) in a bunch finish on stage four.
The 20-year-old, who also won on the opening day, was delivered to the line in Newark-on-Trent by his teammate, former world champion Julian Alaphilippe. Soudal Quick-Step policed moves throughout the day, and capitalised on a strong lead-out by Uno-X to claim the stage win.
Magnier now counts four professional victories in his first season with the Belgian WorldTour team.
"I'm super-happy again to take the victory," the Frenchman said afterwards. "It was again a super day with the team. First we controlled the race to be sure it finished with a bunch sprint, and then they put me in a really good position for the final.
"It was really fast with the tailwind, and in the end I still had the punch to finish off the work of the whole team. I'm really happy to take the victory here."
Looking ahead to the weekend's final two stages, both also expected to finish in sprints, Magnier added that he would "try to do it again".
"First I will recover a bit, because I'm really tired," he smiled.
How it happened
Racing in his 11th Tour of Britain, Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) kickstarted the breakaway out of Derby on day four, the event's shortest stage at 138.5km.
The former British national champion was followed by Rowan Baker (Saint Piran), Scott McGill (Project Echelon Racing) and teenager Liam O’Brien (Lidl-Trek Future Racing) to form a quartet, before Swift dropped back, leaving a trio up the road.
The front group ripped through the East Midlands countryside, averaging over 41km/h, despite tilting into a headwind. In the peloton, Israel-Premier Tech and Soudal Quick-Step shared chasing duties, holding the gap between one and two minutes.
Into the final 30km, the breakaway doggedly staved off the catch. First Baker attacked, then McGill, before O’Brien sprung ahead solo, all under the watchful eye of the bunch, just 20 seconds behind.
The race became agitated inside 20km to go. O’Brien was caught moments after a dash at an intermediate sprint, before Alaphilippe tried a short-lived flyer with 17km remaining. The attacks then multiplied, including a promising one from Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers), but each was patrolled by Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step).
Careering into Newark-on-Trent, Uno-X led the peloton around a right-hand bend in the final kilometre. Alaphilippe then dragged Magnier to the front, who rounded Vernon to take his second stage win.
Results
Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men 2024, stage 4: Derby > Newark-on-Trent (138.5km)
1. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, in 3:11:54
2. Ethan Vernon (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech
3. Erlend Blikra (Nor) Uno-X
4. Noah Hobbs (GBr) Groupama-FDJ Conti
5. Matevž Govekar (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
6. Bob Donaldson (GBr) Trinity Racing
7. Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
8. Rory Townsend (Irl) Q36.5 Pro Cycling
9. Casper van Uden (Ned) dsm-firmenich PostNL
10. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same time
General classification after stage 3
1. Stevie Williams (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech, in 11:38:53
2. Oscar Onley (GBr) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +16s
3. Mark Donovan (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +40s
4. Joe Blackmore (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech, +41s
5. Tom Donnenwirth (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, at same time
6. Louis Sutton (GBr) Great Britain, +1:05
7. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:21
8. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:33
9. Jelte Krijnsen (Ned) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +1:42
10. Edoardo Zambanini (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +1:43
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