Wout van Aert takes Tour of Britain lead after storming to stage five win

Wout van Aert produced a blistering finish over the final kilometre to win stage five of the Tour of Britain in Felixstowe.

The 28-year-old Belgian had led out Jumbo-Visma teammate Olav Kooij to a record-equalling four straight wins in the previous stages.

But in a premeditated team move, 2021 winner Van Aert caught the peloton cold by bursting clear to finish three seconds ahead of the field, with Great Britain’s Ethan Vernon second and Bora-Hansgrohe’s Danny van Poppel in third.

It was the first time in this year’s race that a stage has been won with a time gap after all four previous stages were won by Kooij in bunched sprint finishes, but Jumbo-Visma maintained their dominance.

Van Aert moved top of the general classification with Vernon, Movistar’s Max Kanter and overnight leader Kooij listed second, third and fourth respectively in a cluster of 54 riders just three seconds back.

Ineos Grenadiers’ Tom Pidcock finished the stage’s 192.4km-course, which started and finished in Felixstowe, in ninth place. A three-man breakaway of American Joey Rosskopf (Q36.5 Pro), Callum Ormiston (Global 6) and Abram Stockman (TDT-Unibet) held a lead of one minute 58 seconds over the peloton with 100km to go.

South Africa’s Ormiston dropped off with 17km remaining and Stockman was caught by the peloton soon after, leaving Rosskopf briefly out in front on his own before he was swallowed up with 8km left.