Friday 7 September 2018 17:43, UK
Team Sky's Wout Poels won the sixth stage of the Tour of Britain on Friday, while Julian Alaphilippe took the overall lead with a second-place finish.
Dutchman Poels proved too strong on the summit finish of Whinlatter Pass as he sprinted past Alaphilippe and Hugh Carthy (EF Education FirstDrapac) to the finish line - timing his late attack to perfection.
Quick-Step Floors rider Alaphilippe, however, did enough to become the fifth leader in six days of racing after Primoz Roglic lost the green jersey on the day's final climb.
"I'm really proud of my team today, they did an incredible performance," Alaphilippe said.
"Everybody was riding for me and protecting me. Bob [Jungels] really fought for me. I was only riding to take the jersey; in the fight for the stage victory Wout was fresher than me so I'm not disappointed [to miss out]."
Poels moved up to second in the overall standings, 17 seconds behind Alaphilippe, but admitted winning the race heading into the weekend would be a struggle for his team.
"Second is really nice, I'm quite happy with it," he said.
"It's going to be a hard fight, no more uphill finishes, everything is flat. But we'll keep on trying."
