A win for Walscheid as he takes it to the Max

As the sun set on Scarborough, Yorkshire reflected on yet another stunning stage that included sea, sand and a sprint finish; with Max Walscheid (Team Sunweb) taking the win on the third day.

The third stage, one of ‘market towns’, saw the riders pedal along 184km of the county’s most beautiful landscapes on their way from Richmond to Scarborough; and the crowds were amazing from start to finish.

650,000 spectators lined the roads on a day that saw the sun beam down on God’s Own County and add to the magic of an already iconic stage with the finish on North Bay.

Early on in the race, a break formed that included Pete Williams (One Pro Cycling), Adam Kenway (Vitus Pro Cycling), Jonathan McEvoy (Madison Genesis), Robbert De Greef (Roompot -Nederlandse Loterij), Mathias Le Turnier (Cofidis Solutions Credits).

View All 16 Images

Photos: SWpix.com

The Morton on Swale Sprint around 38km in wasn’t much of a sprint at all, as the breakaway group decided not to exert too much energy and passed it at a canter with De Greef, Kenway and McEvoy taking the points. This was exactly the same story on the second sprint at Pickering as the riders, who had just taken on the first climb of the day, stored their energy for the upcoming Cote de Silpho.

The previous climb, the Cote de Sutton Bank, saw Williams take max points with McEvoy taking second and pushing hard to make sure his teammate Michael Cuming would retain the King of the Mountains jersey, sponsored by Virgin Trains.

This result was confirmed on the Cote de Silpho, as McEvoy came with a late surge to take the points ahead of Williams; who won the consolation prize of the Dimension Data Digital Jersey, as voted for by the public.

Unfortunately for the stage favourite Mark Cavendish, it wasn’t to be and he found himself dropped from a second group of riders in the approach to Scarborough. However, there was plenty of talent left and a lot of moves still to be made. A major move came from Sylvain Chavanel (Team Direct Energie) at around 4.5km and was only reeled in with the sprint finish to come at around 300m.

From here both Walschield and, Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries blue jersey wearer, Magnus Cort Nielsen (Astana Pro Team) battled for the line with the former taking the stage, his first win of the season and Eduard Prades Reverter (Euskadi Basque Country – Murias) earning his team’s second stage third place of the race.

The great performance to take second place by Magnus Cort Nielsen means that he leads the General Classification by 10 seconds over Greg Van Avermaet (Team BMC), who came eighth.

Winner Walscheid said: “Yeah, it’s incredible, I mean I've never seen it like this before, at Roubaix there were massive crowds but this was incredible”.

GC leader Magnus Cort Nielsen was overwhelmed by the crowds on today’s stage and said: “The crowds are amazing, there are so many people it's not just children jumping up and down enjoying it but also adults, it’s a lot of fun to see”.