Dylan Groenewegen was dominant yet again on stage three of the Tour of Britain, claiming his second victory of the race.
The Dutchman emerged victorious on a challenging uphill sprint finish, with his compatriot Mathieu van der Poel surging from behind but failing to topple the Jumbo-Visma rider.
A six-rider breakaway set the tone for the day of racing and despite early drama involving a level crossing, the escapees were reeled in with around 1km to race, setting up a third consecutive bunch sprint.
Jumbo-Visma were the controlling sprint team in the final, with Groenewegen launching early on the final rise, breaking well clear of his rivals to take a second stage victory after his win on the opening day.
Van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) failed to overthrow Groenewegen and took second, with Davide Cimolai (Israel Cycling Academy) finishing third.
Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) finished fifth on the stage and retained his race lead.
How it happened
Stage three of the Tour of Britain was all set for another bunch sprint after 183.2km from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Newcastle.
After three short climbs in the opening 50km, the peloton were faced with a gently undulating course before the fast finish, with just one noteworthy right turn to deal with in the final kilometre.
Early racing saw six riders go clear to form the day’s breakaway, which consisted of Rob Scott (Wiggins-Le Col), Jake Scott (SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling) Rory Townsend (Canyon-DhB), Dries De Bondt (Corendon-Circus), Christophe Noppe (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Harry Tanfield (Katusha-Alpecin).
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Drama unfolded around 120km into the stage as half the peloton were caught on the wrong side of a level crossing at Widrington Station, with the race being neutralised.
The peloton and the breakaway were stopped, with the bunch then been allowed to catch up with the escapees who were then allowed to ride on until they had their three minute advantage.
Racing then continued without any further delays, the peloton luckily making it through another level crossing without being stopped.
The bunch then began to chase down the break closing the gap to within 30 seconds with 4km to race.
Finally the breakaways were swept up in the final kilometre, setting up a rapid run to the line.
Heading into the final turn, Jumbo-Visma were bunched at the front and Groenewegen kicked early on a steep finishing climb in Newcastle, pulling out a considerable gap from the peloton.
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Van der Poel put in a valiant dig and bridged up to Groenewegen, but the latter was already too far ahead and crossed the line first, with Van der Poel second and Davide Cimolai taking third.
Trentin finished in the bunch to secure his lead, now seven seconds ahead of Cimolai who sits second overall.
Results
Tour of Britain 2019, stage three: Berwick-upon-Tweed to Newcastle-upon-Tyne (193.2km)
1. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, in 4-37-53
2. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus
3. Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
4. Mike Teunissen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
5. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott
6. Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Nor) Jumbo-Visma
7. Matthew Walls (GBr) Great Britain
8. Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
9. Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Sunweb
10. Danilo Wyss (Sui) Dimension data, all at same time
General classification after stage three
1. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott, in 13-13-18
2. Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy, at 7 seconds
3. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus, at 11s
4. Japser De Buyst (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at same time
5. Mike Teunissen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 13s
6. Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First, at 16s
7. Ben Swift (GBr) Team Ineos, at 17s
8. Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
9. Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
10. Danilo Wyss (Sui) Dimension Data, all at same time
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