Tour of Britain stage 3: Olav Kooij claims a hat trick of stage wins

Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) made it three from three at the Tour of Britain on Tuesday, winning stage 3 ahead of Bora-Hansgrohe's Danny van Poppel.

To his credit, Van Poppel came the closest that anybody has to trumping Jumbo-Visma so far at this race, but Kooij was able to hang on after a long lead-out produced by teammate Wout van Aert. Great Britain's Ethan Vernon rounded out the day's podium in third.

A relaxed start to the stage from Goole to Beverley

The start of the stage had seen three brave riders attack from KM0 and quickly develop a one-minute gap over the peloton behind, with Nícolas Sessler (Global 6 Cycling), James Fouché (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) and the ever-reliable breakaway specialist, Harry Tanfield (TDT-Unibet), on the move.

Not wanting anything to get in the way of a third successive sprint at the Tour of Britain, Jumbo-Visma slowly wound the breakaway back in and having extended his lead in the KoM classification, Fouché was the first to be dropped from the front group with 44km to ride.

Sessler and Tanfield, meanwhile, continued their adventure out front and just inside 40km to go, the Saint Piran trio of Alexandar Richardson, Harry Birchill and Jack Rootkin-Gray decided to test their luck.

The three riders clipped off the front of the peloton and quickly merged forces with the duo up the road. It was a hopeful move, but one quickly brought to a halt by Jumbo-Visma when they brought four of their domestiques to the front of the peloton.

Jumbo-Visma quash the dreams of the opportunists

However, there was no shortage of riders in the pack who would prefer to seek their own opportunities and the final 30km were littered by attacks. Ineos Grenadiers were on the charge with Ben Turner, Luke Rowe and Connor Swift, drawing the likes of Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) and reigning champion Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar) into action.

After some frenetic racing, Politt emerged the strongest alongside Matthew Bostock (Bolton Equities Black Spoke), with the pair developing a 30-second gap over the peloton. Edoardo Affini was the Jumbo-VIsma rider tasked with closing the gap inside the final 15km, with Movistar generously supporting the chase.

The leading pair's fun was ended with 6.2km to go, as a sprint finish now appeared inevitable and all eyes turned to whether or not anybody could beat Kooij - the winner of the first two stages.

It was his teammates who led the peloton into the final corner with a little over 1km to go, as the race ferociously made its way to the finish. Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma) produced the last turn before teammate Wout van Aert, who launched a long lead-out with 500m to go.

Kooij pounced and so did Van Poppel, but the 30-year-old could not match the finishing speed of the young whippet who remains unbeaten at this race.

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