Kooij denies Merlier to claim eighth Tour of Britain victory on stage 3

Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) denied Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) on a windy stage 3 of the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men in Beverley.

A sprint finish was the expected scenario in East Yorkshire, but Yorben Lauryssen (Tarteletto-Isorex) made the sprint teams work for the opportunity as he attacked with around 50km remaining and wouldn't be caught until 6km to go.

UAE briefly looked to try to split the race inside the final 5km on what had been a windy day, but it was to no avail, as the sprint teams began to establish their lead-out trains.

It was the Great Britain squad who led the race towards the final kilometre with three riders at the front, with Netcompany-Ineos and Soudal Quick-Step also well placed. 

Kooij, who looked to be initially boxed in, managed to find some space once Modern Adventure opened up the sprint. 

Merlier was locked on the Dutchman’s wheel but couldn’t come around Kooij, who claimed his eighth Tour of Britain stage win, with Axel Källberg (Lucky Sport) in third.

Race leader Lewis Askey (NSN) finished safely inside the peloton to defend the green jersey with two stages remaining,

A six-rider breakaway was established, including Gianni Marchand and Arne Santy (Tarteletto-Isorex), Michal Schuran (United Shipping), Dylan Vandenstorme (Flanders-Baloise), Karl Hall and Victor Johannessen (BHS - PL Beton Bornholm).

Inside the final 60km, the wind threatened to split the peloton once more, and the fight for position at the head of the race was intense, and that reeled in the original breakaway. 

With 51km to go, Marchand tried to break free of the peloton again. Interestingly, it was his teammate who closed the gap as he tried to bridge across. 

The Belgian team were intent on making life difficult for the sprint teams as Yorben Lauryssen (Tarteletto-Isorex) launched an immediate counter-attack and managed to open a more substantial gap. 

Lauryssen would be chased by Conn McDunphy (APS Pro Cycling by Team Cadence Cyclery) and Ward Vanhoof (Flanders-Baloise), but neither could catch the Belgian, as Lauryssen held an advantage of over two minutes on the peloton with 40km remaining.

Through the bell lap, with 16km to go, Lauryssen led McDunphy by 40 seconds with the peloton led by Decathlon, NSN and Quick-Step at 1:10.

McDunphy was reeled in by 12km remaining, as Lauryssen became the final target for the peloton to hunt down inside the final 10km.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG tried to upset the apple cart by attacking with 7km remaining, but were unable to break free, as Lauryssen was caught.