Tour de Yorkshire: Alexander Kamp wins stage 3

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Alexander Kamp (Riwal Readynez) won stage 3 of the Tour de Yorkshire in Scarborough, prevailing in a sprint finish over a large break group that escaped mid-race.

Chris Lawless (Team Ineos) and Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team) rounded out the podium after a close-run sprint on the seafront, where the finish had been moved by 800 metres after high tides saw waves wash across the road. The trio were part of a 20-strong group that broke away from the peloton under pressure from Ineos and CCC with around 50km to race.

In the end, the stage came down to a spring between the riders who made the split, with Kamp prevailing in the closing metres, just edging out Lawless, who had launched first. Lawless takes over the race lead, while Van Avermaet lurks in third ahead of a tougher final stage on Sunday.

“It was hard in the crosswinds," said Kamp after the finish. "But my team did a terrific job and I had some power left to finish it off at the end with a good sprint. I didn’t think too much and went with my instinct, and luckily I won. It was a fantastic victory and I’m in good shape so hopefully I can still be in contention tomorrow.”

How it happened

A wet and windy day on the road from Bridlington to Scarborough saw hard racing for much of the stage. It took almost 30km of the stage for the break to form.

Mike Cuming (Madison Genesis), Kévin Reza (Vital Concept-B&B Hotels), Robert Scott (Wiggins Le Col), Romain Sicard (Total Direct Ènergie), Maikel Zijlaard (Hagens Berman Axion), John Archibald (Ribble), Michael Mottram (Vitus), Stephen Bradbury (SwiftCarbon) and Robin Carpenter (Rally UHC) were the names involved in the break of the day.

Scott was the main beneficiary of the break, leading over the Côtes de Silpho, Hooks House Farm and Lythe Bank to take over the lead of the mountain classification. The group didn’t last much longer after the day’s third climb though, with Team Ineos and CCC Team pushing things on back in the peloton.

At 50km from the line it was over for the break, with the peloton making the catch and the two WorldTour teams driving a split at the front soon afterwards. The race was blown apart by the time it reached the double-digit gradients of the Côte de Grosmont, with around 20 riders forming a lead group.

That group would swiftly build a 30-second advantage, working well together to build the lead over the chasing peloton. The run-in over the final climb of the Côte de Ugglebarnaby and the bumpy run to Scarborough was largely quiet, with few attempts to get away in front.

Even when reaching Scarborough, the lead group were quiet, with nobody taking the risk of going it alone in the final kilometres. Instead, it was the same faces at the front, with CCC still doing a lot of work for their leader Van Avermaet.

Come the sprint for the line though, the Belgian wasn’t the fastest man, with Lawless launching first en route to what looked like a near-certain victory. That wasn’t to be however, with the fast finishing Kamp bursting from the group to close in.

On the line, it was Kamp’s by a tiny margin – so much so that the Dane didn’t immediately realise he had won. Lawless could console himself with the blue jersey of overall leader as well as the green points jersey, though.

Full results

Stage points classification

Stage mountain classification

General classification

Points classification

Mountain classification