Van Avermaet wins Tour de Yorkshire

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Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) took overall victory at the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire, as Stephane Rossetto (Cofidis) scored a sensational solo victory on the final stage of the race. It was 34 seconds later that Van Avermaet won the sprint for second, while Ian Bibby (JLT Condor) rounded off the podium.

Already having been in the break on stage 2, Rossetto was out front on his own for almost 120km of the 189.5km queen stage. The 31-year-old was part of the day's initial break, attacking after 40km and then shedding his final break-mate on the hardest climb of the race before embarking on his lonely quest.

Van Avermaet's victory came after Eddie Dunbar (Aqua Blue Sport) had blown up the race up on the final climb of the day, 18km from the line. With race leader Magnus Cort Nielsen (Astana) dropped and four BMC riders in the lead group, all that remained was for the American squad to fend off any attacks before the Belgian completed the job in the sprint.

Rossetto, who also won the mountains classification, compared the "amazing" race to the Tour de France after finishing, and cited Sylvain Chavanel and Vincenzo Nibali as inspirations for his fighting style.

"It's one of the most beautiful victories of my career," he said. "I'm very moved. It's a huge win and a real life lesson - it shows if you work hard it pays off. I'm a bit of an old-fashioned rider, never over-calculating or over-analysing things. I like to get out there and take it on."

The overall victory marks Van Avermaet's second victory of the year, and his first since the Tour of Oman in February. Eduard Prades (Euskadi-Murias) took second overall, nine seconds down, while Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) was third at 14 seconds.

How it happened

Despite Halifax and Leeds lying roughly only 15 miles apart, the riders had to take the long way round for the final stage of the race, riding 189.5km through the picturesque - and brutally hilly - Yorkshire Moors. The first 50km featured three climbs - the Côte de Hebden Bridge (16km in - 7km at 4.6%), Côte de Goose Eye (31km in - 1.5km at 10%), and the Côte de Barden Moore (48.5km in - 1km at 9.5%).

Then followed perhaps the toughest of the race - the 2.2km, 10.5% Côte de Park Rash, which came after 77km. After a mid-stage lull down in the valley, the final 60km featured six unclassified hills, as well as the Côte de Greenhow Hill 61.5km out (3.3km at 8.2%), and the Côte de Otley Chevin (1.4km at 10.3%), which came 25km from the line. Two intermediate sprints came 67.5km and 177km into the stage.

Within the first 20km the day's break had been established, as an 18-strong group attacked the peloton. Brent Bookwalter (BMC), Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Énergie), Owain Doull (Team Sky), Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept), Stephane Rossetto (Cofidis) and Maximilan Stedman (Canyon-Eisberg) were among the notable names out front.

At 40km into the stage, Stedman and Rossetto were away alone, with Stedman leading over the Barden Moor and Goose Eye climbs. But 30km later, on the Côte de Park Rash, the Frenchman - fourth here in 2015 and in the break on stage 2 - left the Brit behind for good.

Astana led the peloton for much of the day, working for Cort Nielsen. Nine minutes back with 100km to race, they were four minutes behind the chase group. Meanwhile, up front Rossetto was surely beginning to entertain thoughts of a stage win to go with his mountains classification bid.

As the kilometres ticked down, Rossetto's gap was slowly eroding rather than falling away. As he reached the final 40km, the shrinking peloton crested Greenhow Hill six minutes back, with the chase group four minutes down on the Cofidis man.

At Otley Chevin, the final climb of the race, Rossetto picked up maximum points once again to con-firm his mountain classification victory. A few minutes later, Dunbar kicked off the action on the climb, shattering the peloton as Cort Nielsen was dropped.

Four BMC riders, including Van Avermaet, made the selection in the aftermath. They led a group of around 14 riders which featured a number of men in GC contention. Up front Rossetto rode to the finish unmolested, securing a famous victory - his first since the 2014 Boucles de la Mayenne.

Despite several further attacks from Dunbar, the hills in the finale weren't enough to dislodge Van Avermaet, leaving him with the relatively simple task of controlling the final sprint and bonus sec-onds.

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