• Frenchman hauls in Tour of Britain leader Primoz Roglic
• Team Sky’s Wout Poels wins stage and moves into second
This has been an unstable, unpredictable Tour of Britain, with five race leaders in the space of six days, but Julian Alaphilippe looks set to win after splitting the race on the final ascent of Whinlatter Pass in the Lake District. Team Sky’s Wout Poels took a perfectly calculated stage six win, while the overnight leader Primoz Roglic showed the after-effects of lingering health problems.
Alaphilippe had looked like the strongest climber in the race since the ascent of Challacombe on stage two in Devon and he had the perfect foil in the Luxembourg national champion, Bob Jungels, who showed grinding power to set up his Quick-Step teammate’s searing uphill accelerations. With two flat stages to come, there is every chance Alaphilippe will become the first Frenchman to win the race since Geoffroy Lequatre in 2008.
Written by William Fotheringham in Cockermouth
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/07/julian-alaphilippe-lake-district-green-jersey-tour-of-britain under the title “Julian Alaphilippe charts climb through Lake District and into the green jersey”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
