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Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) powered to a third stage win at the Tour of Britain as he dominated the bunch sprint in Northampton city centre on stage five.

A three-man breakaway of Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Rasmus Pedersen (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Matt Holmes (Great Britain) were caught just a few hundred metres from the line as a messy sprint unfolded.

At just 0.6km, Newnham Hill was a short but punchy affair averaging 8.3%, and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) took advantage of the steep pitch to counter-attack. The Frenchman could only string out a small gap on the bunch and was reeled in shortly after. Holmes took the KOM points on both Newnham Hill and the gentler Bulshill, although the jersey was already sealed up by Trinity Racing’s Callum Thornley after stages one and two.

Similarly to yesterday’s stage the intermediate sprint was positioned shortly before the finale, this time inside the last 20km at Holcot, at the eastern end of the Pitsford Water causeway. On stage four, waves of attacks gearing up for the intermediate sprint neutralised the breakaway and set the scene for a frantic approach to the line. Today, the breakaway swept up the points and it was panic stations in the bunch. The sprinters’ teams had realised they were running out of time.

Soudal Quick-Step did not have quite the same flawless lead-out as on previous stages but it ultimately didn’t matter, as Magnier opened up early and soared away from his rivals. It was another disappointing day for Vernon, who couldn’t get past the Frenchman despite a dedicated Israel Premier-Tech lead-out. Blikra and Vernon, third and second respectively on stage four, swapped places this time round.

1. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, in 3:12:09
2. Erlend Blikra (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
3. Ethan Vernon (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech
4. Rasmus Pedersen (Den) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team
5. Matevž Govekar (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
6. Bob Donaldson (GBr) Trinity Racing
7. Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
8. Tom Donnenwirth (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team
9. Rory Townsend (Irl) Q36.5 Pro Cycling
10. Casper van Uden (Ned) dsm-firmenich PostNL, all at same time

1. Stevie Williams (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech, in 18:02:56
2. Oscar Onley (GBr) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +16s
3. Mark Donovan (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +40s
4. Tom Donnenwirth (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team, +41s
5. Joe Blackmore (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech, at same time
6. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:11
7. Jelte Krijnsen (Ned) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +1:42
8. Edoardo Zambanini (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +1:43
9. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:44
10. Julius Johansen (Den) Sabgal-Anicolor, +1:45

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Paul Magnier takes hat-trick of wins at Tour of Britain with stage five victory

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