Tour of Britain: Stevie Williams takes sprint win on stage 3

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Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) claimed his second consecutive stage win in the Tour of Britain, surviving an aggressive day of racing in the rain en route to Barnsley.

Williams out-paced stage 1 winner Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quickstep) and Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) to extend his lead in the general classification.

Williams gave all of the credit for the win to his teammates, who controlled several dangerous breakaways and managed to bring the race back together for the sprint.

"It was a really hard day," Williams said. "The roads are really demanding. The weather was pretty bad. 

"I hope you all saw from the TV what a stellar job they did to control that race today, because it wasn't easy. It was a very messy, chaotic stage. It seemed to have settled down after 50, 60k and then the fireworks all started again. For about an hour and a half, it was pretty hectic, and the way they managed that and controlled that was incredible."

Early in the stage, Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quickstep), Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech) and Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) embarked on an ambitious early breakaway. Although they were joined by Emils Liepinš (DSM-Firmenich-PostNl) and Jelte Krijnsen (Q36.5), the move didn't last.

Alaphilippe used the attack to sweep up the maximum KOM points on Long Lane and Jawbone Hill. But soon after Krijnsen claimed the intermediate sprint with 94km to go, Soudal-Quickstep upped the pace to try to split the peloton in the crosswinds, and the move was quickly caught.

Ethan Hayter (Ineos-Grenadiers) then got involved in a brief escape of 10 riders, but when they were caught, teammate Tobias Foss powered a seven-rider breakaway that had more life.

Foss was joined by Gil Gelders (Soudal-Quick Step), Noa Isidore (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), Nickolas Zukowsky (Q36.5), Julius Johansen (Sabgal/Anicolor), Louis Sutton (Team GB) and Oscar Nilsson-Julien (Van Rysel - Roubaix), but the latter was dropped with 39km to go.

Sutton was the highest-placed in the GC standings but it was Gelders who went on the attack as the gap fell under the 30-second mark.

The Belgian was caught but the surge kicked Zukowsky, Sutton and Abrahamsen out of the move.

Foss, Isidore, Johansen and Gelders kept pushing and eventually, Abrahamsen recovered and powered back, making it five at the head of the race.

The leaders' time out front didn't last, however, and they were caught inside 6km to go by a reduced peloton.

Bahrain Victorious led out the sprint but Williams was on the wheel and sprinted in for a second stage win.

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