Ian Stannard won the Tour of Britain‘s seventh stage on Saturday, as Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) retained the overall lead heading to the race finale in London.
The Team Sky rider moved clear of a breakaway group with 16 kilometres to go and eventually finished 59 seconds ahead of Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin).
Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF) was three minutes and nine seconds behind in third place after the 215-kilometre stage from West Bridgford to Mansfield.
“When I got into the break today I was pretty confident. I looked at the other guys, how they were riding all day and I knew that I had the edge,” Stannard said.
Alaphilippe has a 17-second overall advantage on Wout Poels (Team Sky) and 33 seconds on Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo).
“I can’t say the race is won,” said the Frenchman, “not until we reach the finish in London. I’m glad this is over. It was a long and difficult day, and the team had to work hard through the whole day to keep a lid on things.”
The French rider will bid to clinch the title on Sunday when the final stage starts and finishes on Regent Street in London.
Tour of Britain 2018 – stage 7 results (West Bridgford – Mansfield):
| 1 | Ian Stannard (Team Sky) | 4:56:27 |
| 2 | Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) | +59” |
| 3 | Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF) | +03’09” |
| 4 | Mark McNally (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) | +03’54” |
| 5 | Emils Liepins (ONE Pro Cycling) | +04’04” |
| 6 | Patrick Bevin (BMC) | ,, |
| 7 | Ethan Hayter (Great Britain) | ,, |
| 8 | Paolo Simion (Bardiani-CSF) | ,, |
| 9 | Andrew Tennant (Canyon-Eisberg) | ,, |
| 10 | Nils Eekhoff (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
General classification after stage 7:
| 1 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | 24:47:25 |
| 2 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | +17” |
| 3 | Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +33” |
| 4 | Patrick Bevin (BMC) | +46” |
| 5 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | +51” |
| 6 | Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar) | +58” |
| 7 | Neilson Powless (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +01’10” |
| 8 | Dmitry Strakhov (Katusha-Alpecin) | +01’24” |
| 9 | Christopher Hamilton (Team Sunweb) | +01’28” |
| 10 | Pascal Eenkhoorn (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +01’35” |
