British Men's Tour: Remco Evenepoel Claims Victory on Queen Stage 5 at The Tumble Peak
In a thrilling turn of events, Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-QuickStep emerged victorious in the Queen stage of the Tour of Britain Men, held on the challenging The Tumble.
The race took an exciting turn with 40km remaining, as a counterattack was initiated by Hartthijs de Vries and Siebe Deweirdt, building up an advantage of around a minute. The breakaway group's advantage reached over two minutes during the race, with nine riders forming the group, including Rafael Reis, Noa Isidore, and Patrick Boje Frydkjær.
However, Ineos Grenadiers set the pace on the second ascent of The Tumble, reducing the counterattack's advantage. Quentin Pacher of Groupama-FDJ, guiding GC leader Romain Grégoire, also played a significant role in reducing the gap.
As the final climb of the stage approached, it seemed that Oscar Onley, Afonso Eulálio, and Pavel Sivakov had made the race-winning move inside the final 2.5km of The Tumble's slopes. However, they were eventually caught by other riders.
In the end, it was Evenepoel who clinched the victory, with Thomas Gloag of Visma-Lease A Bike finishing second and Oscar Onley in third. Remco Evenepoel's victory was his first since his time trial win at this year's Tour de France.
Meanwhile, Julian Alaphilippe of Tudor is two seconds behind Evenepoel in the overall race, with Onley in fourth, eight seconds behind the leader. Victor Vercouillie extended his lead in the King of the Mountains classification with 14 points on the early climbs.
The 2022 Tour of Britain Men saw the participation of teams such as Ineos Grenadiers, Tudor Pro Cycling, Uno-X, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, Groupama – FDJ, Bahrain Victorious, Team Picnic PostNL, and Unibet Tietema Rockets. Key riders from these teams include Julian Alaphilippe, Geraint Thomas, Sam Bennett, and Rasmus Tiller.
As the race progresses, Evenepoel is now within striking distance of the overall race lead, making the remaining stages highly anticipated. The next stage promises to be just as exciting, with the riders set to tackle new challenges in their pursuit of victory.
