Romain Grégoire claimed the overall victory at the Tour of Britain as Olav Kooij won from a bunch sprint on the final day in Cardiff.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider snatched the stage in a thrilling victory ahead of Britons Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) and Fred Wright (Bahrain – Victorious), who closed out the podium.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was all still to play for at the start of the day, with only eight seconds separating the top four, and the pace showed, with riders attacking from the off, with even Thomas making a bid for a break.
However, it took over 20km before a substantial lead could form, as Julius Johansen (Emirates XRG), Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon–AG2R), Wright and Mats Wenzel (Kern Pharma) managed to break clear, and across the next 10km, the quartet successfully built a two-minute advantage
The peloton started to attack at the base of the first categorised climb of the day, the 3.4km ascent up the Mynydd Bedwellte, as Soudal–Quick-Step led the charge to keep Remco Evenepoel in touch, while the breakaway’s lead at the front dipped to under two minutes for the first time since they escaped.
Due to their advantage, at the summit of Mynydd Bedwellte, it was a battle between the breakaway for the mountain points, with Wenzel bettering the rest to take the top points.
It was a lead they maintained as the kilometres continued to tick down, until the challenges of the Welsh countryside began to impact the race.
In a matter of metres, Johansen suffered the consequences of a flat tyre, with little opportunity to repair it along the winding and narrow country roads, a herd of cows blocked the path for an advancing peloton, partnered with windy and wet conditions across the 15km descent, providing the opportunity for the head of the race to build back their diminished advantage to one minute 45 seconds, with 50km to go.
After also suffering a puncture, Wenzel was temporarily dropped by the breakaway, but by 40km to go, the group were all back together. However, the foursome now only led the peloton by just over one minute and 20 seconds, a lead they maintained for another 20km, along the winding and undulating descent toward Cardiff.
And then with 15km to go, the peloton picked up the pace in a bid to reel in the leaders, managing to bring them within touching distance over the next 6km.
At the base of Caerphilly Mountain, the breakaway held a lead of only five seconds, as legendary Thomas was dropped from the peloton, marking an end to his race and the close of his incredible career.
The hammer then dropped as Evenepoel attacked to join the front of the race, with Oscar Onley (Picnic–PostNL) and Grégoire (Groupama–FDJ) remaining on his wheel, bringing the now dropped Wenzel back into the fold.
Before long, they were also caught by the group containing Olav Kooij (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) and Matthew Brennan.
But the trio of Tronchon, Johansen and Briton Wright built back a 20-second lead on the descent into Cardiff, with only 3km to the finish, poised to take the bonus seconds, and threatening Evenepoel’s chance to snatch the general classification victory of Grégoire.
The larger chase group led by Kooij and containing Evenepoel and Grégoire charged down the trio, who continued to lead through the 1km mark, leaving it until the last moment to make the catch.
But it was Kooij who snatched the win in a bunch sprint with the British Sam Watson swooping round Wright to take second, as his compatriot closed out the podium as the only survivor from the breakaway.
