Solo victory for Ian Stannard at Tour of Britain
Sep 08 2018 10:52 pm CET

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Ian Stannard (Sky) has won the seventh stage of the OVO Energy Tour of Britain. The Briton was part of the breakaway of the day and a late attack gave him a solo victory.
The longest stage of the 2018 edition of the race was 215.6 kilometres long between West Bridgford and Mansfield and took the riders through a hilly profile. The breakaway of the day was formed in the first kilometres of the route and included Ian Stannard (Sky), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Mark McNally (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Giovanni Carbone (Bardiani-CSF) and Alex Paton (Canyon Eisberg).
The front group built a gap of more than six minutes over the peloton. With 50 kilometres to go, Paton gave up on the breakaway and left the other four riders riding on their own, while teams like Quick-Step Floors, Mitchelton-Scott and Bora-hansgrohe took turns at the head of the peloton.
With 20 kilometres to go, Stannard attacked and Politt stayed at his wheel, leaving the remaining riders of the breakaway behind. In the next kilometres, the rider of Team Sky changed the pace several times to try to get away on his own and he succeeded with 15 kilometres remaining.
Stannard built a gap of more than half a minute with Politt and crossed the finish line on his own and taking the second victory for Sky in the 2018 edition of the race.
Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) arrived to the end with the peloton and maintained the GC lead.