Mathieu van der Poel reiterated his billing as the hottest talent in professional cycling on Saturday as he was crowned the 2019 Tour of Britain champion in Manchester.
The 24-year-old Dutchman sealed his victory in style, sprinting to win the eighth and final stage of this year’s race after a frantic day of racing around all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs.
Van der Poel outsprinted compatriot Cees Bol (Team Sunweb) by a tyre width on Deansgate, with overall runner-up Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) placing third across the line.
While Corendon – Circus and the Jumbo-Visma team initially did well to control the breakaway of Matt Holmes (Madison Genesis), Gabriel Cullaigh (Team WIGGINS Le Col) and Emil Vinjebo (Riwal Readynez), the race erupted into life approaching the infamous climb of the Rake above Ramsbottom.
Pavel Sivakov sparked proceedings into life on the lower slopes of the hill, before his Team Ineos team-mates continued the unpredictable nature of the day’s racing with a flurry of attacks across the moors north of Manchester.
Movistar’s Andrey Amador was the main beneficiary, building a 49-second lead at one point before being reeled back in by the pace of a reduced front group.
With 25 kilometres remaining Team INEOS’ Michal Golas was joined off the front by Larry Warbasse (AG2R La Mondiale) and Mark Christian (Team WIGGINS Le Col) but their lead only lasted until the 10-kilometre to go mark as the Tour raced through Salford.
Coming onto Manchester’s famous Deansgate it was Team Sunweb’s Bol that picked up the sprint. However, van der Poel came around him and held off the fast-finishing Trentin.
Tour of Britain 2019 – stage 8 results (Altrincham – Manchester):
| 1 | Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) | 3:49:26 |
| 2 | Cees Bol (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 3 | Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 4 | Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma) | ,, |
| 5 | Davide Cimolai (Israel Cycling Academy) | ,, |
| 6 | Sacha Modolo (EF Education First) | ,, |
| 7 | Nils Eekhoff (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 8 | Jasper De Buyst (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 9 | Xandro Meurisse (Wanty-Gobert) | ,, |
| 10 | Danilo Wyss (Dimension Data) | ,, |
Tour of Britain 2019 – final general classification:
| 1 | Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) | 29:47:41 |
| 2 | Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) | +17” |
| 3 | Jasper De Buyst (Lotto Soudal) | +50” |
| 4 | Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos) | +52” |
| 5 | Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) | +01’01” |
| 6 | Gianni Moscon (Team Ineos) | ,, |
| 7 | Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma) | +01’03” |
| 8 | Andrey Amador (Movistar) | +01’04” |
| 9 | Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) | +01’07” |
| 10 | Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Jumbo – Visma) | +01’08” |
