Tour of Britain 2018 Stage 3: Julian Alaphilippe sprints to victory, Patrick Bevin new leader

The Tour of Britain's 3rd stage is short and leads to an explosive finale in Bristol. Despite two sharp climbs in the last 8 kilometres it comes down to a bunch sprint with Julian Alaphilippe taking the flowers. Patrick Bevin sprints to second place to move into the overall lead. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 3rd stage 2018 Tour of Britain

1. Julian Alaphilippe (fra)
2. Patrick Bevin (nzl) s.t.
3. Emils Liepins (Let) s.t.
4. Ethan Hayter (gbr) s.t.
5. Jasper De Buyst (bel) s.t.
6. Connor Swift (gbr) s.t.
7. Mads Würtz Schmidt (den) s.t.
8. Jasha Sütterlin (ger) s.t.
9. Dion Smith (aus) s.t.
10. Xandro Meurisse (bel) s.t.

GC after the 3rd stage
1. Patrick Bevin (nzl)
2. Cameron Meyer (aus) s.t.
3. Julian Alaphilippe (fra) + 0.02
4. Jasha Sütterlin (ger) + 0.12
5. Wout Poels (nld) s.t.
6. Chris Hamilton (aus) s.t.
7. Bob Jungels (lux) s.t.
8. Primoz Roglic (slo) s.t.
9. Hugh Carty (gbr) + 0.19
10. Scott Davies (gbr) + 0.22

Race report
A lot of movement early on. Stefan Küng, Iljo Keisse, Tony Martin and Fernando Gaviria – they all instigate attacks, but the pack is still bunched at the first intermediate spint, which is won by Mads Würtz Schmidt ahead of Patrick Bevin. Bevin is third in the GC and pockets 2 seconds.

At km 45 a group of four riders move clear, including André Greipel, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Matt and Romain Cardis. Iljo Keisse, Ruben Fernandez and Dmitrii Strakhov track them down and they put almost 1 minute into the peloton. Yet, halfway through the stage the seven are brought back. A little later Tony Martin launches a solo attack. Jon Mould, Ben Swift and Angelo Tulik jump across.

The four are caught just before Ashton Hill. Fernando Gaviria opens up a small gap and Tom Pidcock takes over. Just after the top it comes together. On the punchy haul up to and over the Clifton Suspension Bridge leader Alessandro Tonelli is dropped before Bob Jungels begins an impressive lead-out on the long false flat to the line. His team-mate Julian Alaphilippe finishes the job and sprints to victory ahead of Patrick Bevin. The New Zealander moves into the overall lead with Cameron Meyer still in second in the same time as the leader (albeit a different leader).