Sunday 6 May 2018 22:06, UK
Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet sealed overall victory in the Tour de Yorkshire in one of the most memorable finishes in the race's short history.
Frenchman Stephane Rossetto soloed to a superb win before Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet sealed overall victory.
On a day which included over 3,300 metres of climbing on an imposing 189.5 kilometre route from Halifax to Leeds, Cofidis rider Rossetto went clear alone with 110 punishing kilometres still to come and, at the age of 31, earned only the third professional victory of his career.
"It was only in the last five kilometres I knew," Rossetto said through a translator. "I had the time gaps in my ears and I had confidence in my legs when the road flattened out."
But Rossetto faced an interminable wait for those flatter sections to come. He left behind 22-year-old Briton Max Stedman on the brutal climb up Park Rash barely a third of the way into the stage and crested two more categorised climbs alone to add the mountains jersey to his spoils.
"It is only the third victory of my career and it's clearly the most beautiful, on a race with more and more value and history. The crowds are amazing and it's like being on the Tour de France."
Rossetto's advantage tumbled inside the final 30 kilometres as the battle for overall victory heated up behind, and he eventually won by 34 seconds from Van Avermaet who led the chase group home to take the leader's blue jersey off the shoulders of Dane Magnus Cort Nielsen.
Van Avermaet - who won by nine seconds from Spaniard Eduard Prades Reverter of Euskadi Basque Country and 14 seconds from Dimension Data's defending champion Serge Pauwels - dedicated the victory to Andy Rihs, the BMC team owner who died at the age of 75 last month.
"I think we all had it in mind to win a race for him," he said. "Tomorrow is his funeral. He was a big boss for us, a big supporter for many years at BMC. The work the team did was incredible and we all had him in mind and it was really great I could finish it off.
"Thank you to Andy, thank you to the team. It's so great I can win this and it's great I can have Yorkshire on my palmares."
