Andre Greipel wins fourth stage of Tour of Britain as Patrick Bevin extends overall lead
Wednesday 5 September 2018 16:17, UK
Andre Greipel claimed his second victory at the Tour of Britain thanks to a late burst on stage four in Royal Leamington Spa.
Greipel got the better of Sacha Modolo at the end of the 183.5km race after overall leader Patrick Bevin had attempted a late bid for glory.
Bevin was able to extend his advantage by finishing third on the stage, which featured three categorised climbs and saw Britain's Matthew Holmes enjoy a successful day.
Holmes, riding for the domestic Madison-Genesis team, was part of the day's six-man breakaway and won all three intermediate sprints as well as taking first place over all three climbs.
The break was eventually caught 3km from the finish line with Quick-Step Floors, BMC Racing and EF-Drapac putting riders on the front of the peloton for the bunch sprint.
But there was no sign of sprint stars Fernando Gaviria and Caleb Ewan as Bevin made his bid for victory with less than 500m remaining.
Bevin looked to have built a winning lead, but Greipel remains one of the strongest sprinters in the World Tour peloton at the age of 36 and showed his power as he fought to the line first.
Modolo claimed second ahead of Bevin, who moves four seconds ahead of Cameron Meyer in the race for the green jersey ahead of Thursday's team time-trial in the Lake District.
Bevin's BMC Racing team and Meyer's Mitchelton-Scott squad are among the strongest teams in that discipline, with BMC having won two of the last four world titles and finished second on the other two occasions.
