Steven Kruijswijk moved up to the eighth place in the general classification of the Tour of Britain. Together with Bram Tankink, he was part of a group of thirty riders who escaped. However, Matteo Trentin (Etixx – Quick Step) won the stage.

“It was quite a war in the beginning of the race,” sports director, Nico Verhoeven said after the stage.

“There was a lot of side wind and there was enough climbing in the first kilometres. Only thirty riders were fighting for the stage win after that part. It was a tough race from that moment. A breakaway of eight riders developed, with Steven Kruijswijk with them. That was interesting for the general classification. Team Sky did the best they could to close the gap. A new group escaped afterwards, with Bram Tankink, but that break was closed by Team Sky as well.”

295 watt
“We tried to force something today,” Tankink added. “The leader in the race was isolated quickly so that gave us a chance to do something. We went to war.

“Steven escaped first and I broke away afterwards. Team Sky controlled everything very tightly. We never had a big advantage. Several riders attacked out of the breakaway in the end and I was in the wrong position. It’s a pity that we weren’t able to make it to the finish with that group.

“It was a very though day. I reached an average of 295 watts. I’ve never done that before.”

Verhoeven doesn’t think that Kruijswijk will have another chance to win the overall. “The last two stages will end up in a bunch sprint normally. The best thing that can happen is that Steven takes some seconds because of small gaps in a bunch sprint, but it’s going to be very hard to grab the victory.”