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Wout van Aert denied Tour of Britain stage win by Rasmus Tiller after ‘overestimating’ course
Race leader van Aert was caught within 850 metres of the finish - and will instead look to secure the title on Sunday's final stage
Wout van Aert attacked three times in the final 30 kilometres of Saturday’s stage seven of the Tour of Britain but Rasmus Tiller denied him the victory that would have made him champion-elect.
Race leader van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was caught within 850 metres of the finish line near Gloucester Docks by a reduced peloton on his last attack as Tiller (Uno-X) took the stage – and Stevie Williams, riding for the composite Great Britain team, came third.
Van Aert will now look to secure the Tour of Britain title on the final 166-kilometre stage between Margam Country Park and Caerphilly, which features some of south Wales’ toughest climbs, on Sunday.
“I overestimated the course a bit,” said Van Aert of stage seven. “It was quite tough in the final and there were some fast guys who could hang on. Tomorrow we will see an even smaller group [at the finish].
“I thought attack was the best form of defence, so that’s what I did. Unfortunately, I isolated myself with guys on my wheel who wouldn’t cooperate – that was a bit of a mistake.
“My team-mates have done a terrific job the whole week, so it’s quite normal that we don’t get any help from the others. I’m still proud of them and hopefully they can hold on for one more day and I can pay them back with a nice GC (general classification) victory.”
Tiller benefited from a good lead-out from team-mate Tobias Johannessen to win from the 13-man group who came into the finish together.
“It feels really good,” said Tiller. “We have tried [to] win every stage here with the two sprinters we have on the team but we knew today was going to be a different race with a smaller [front] group. That suited me better. Tobias did a really good lead-out and it was just for me to sprint for the win.”
“When Wout has a small gap, you know it’s going to be difficult to bring him back. We managed to ride well together, and, in the end, we caught him. Then Tobias did a good lead-out, so I’m happy I had the legs to finish it off.”