Dane Alexander Kamp out-sprinted Chris Lawless on stage three of the Tour de Yorkshire but the Team Ineos man did enough to take the overall lead of the race.
Lawless came off the wheel of team-mate Owain Doull to launch his sprint on the left-hand side just as Kamp burst down the right, and it was the Riwal Readynez man who took victory at the line to deny Ineos a first win in their new colours.
But the race leader's blue jersey will bear the Ineos name on Sunday with Lawless now the overall leader of the race, on the same time as Kamp.
After backing up a third place yesterday in Bedale with a second place into Scarborough, @ChrisLawless95 moves into the blue GC jersey. #TDY pic.twitter.com/T4GkYQ0jvA — Tour de Yorkshire 🚴 (@letouryorkshire) May 4, 2019
"I'm a bit gutted about not winning the stage, but with a new team sponsor it's always nice to be leading the race," Lawless said.
"The main focus today was keeping Doull, Froomey and Eddie (Dunbar) in GC contention.
"Me taking the race lead is a bit of a bonus and second on the stage. But in my mind I was really looking for first."
It's great to see @ChrisLawless95 move into the overall race lead at Tour de Yorkshire after that close second place finish. He's level on time with stage winner Kamp pic.twitter.com/7RCHsNGgcV — Team INEOS (@TeamINEOS) May 4, 2019
The victory was a major boost to the ambitious Riwal Readynez squad from Denmark, who are looking to make a splash before Copenhagen hosts the start of the Tour de France in 2021.
"It was a hard stage," said Kamp, the 25-year-old former Danish national champion. "We split it out in the crosswinds and my team-mates did a terrific job so to finish up with the win is fantastic.
"I'm in good shape and this victory is a good victory."
CCC's Greg Van Avermaet, defending champion here, was third on the day to sit in third overall, six seconds back.
The 132km stage from Bridlington came down to a selective sprint on the seafront as waves lapped over the wall and on to the road while riders raced by.
Nineteen riders had arrived together in Scarborough having broken away when crosswinds ripped through the peloton west of Whitby, with the group racing clear as it turned to a tailwind on the road back south.
Team Ineos, including Chris Froome, did much of the work to split the race apart into echelons with a little over 50km of the stage to go.
The breakaway have done a decent job today but @TeamINEOS have upped the pace and they've now been swept up. 51km to go and the race is now definitely on. #TDY pic.twitter.com/pfZUKUdHok — Tour de Yorkshire 🚴 (@letouryorkshire) May 4, 2019
The CCC team were quick to latch on as a select group broke away.
Opening stage winner Jesper Asselman of Roompot-Charles kept up initially, but was dropped on the final categorised climb of the day in Ugglebarnby and could not recover.
It was another day of brutal weather conditions on the Tour. Though things had improved from the hail, rain and sleet the women faced over the same roads in the morning, the peloton was battered by the same frigid winds, a headwind for the first 65km of the day.
Ineos then used those winds to their advantage as the race split apart, and while it was not enough for the stage victory they will go into Sunday's decisive final stage well placed.
👏👏 Cheers lads 👏👏 What an effort put in by the @RiwalCyclingPCT to put their fast man, @AlexanderKamp1 in prime position for the victory. #TDY pic.twitter.com/iUnW7I59FA — Tour de Yorkshire 🚴 (@letouryorkshire) May 4, 2019
"It was a really good job by the boys all day," Lawless added. "It was us and Riwal that took the initiative to split it in the crosswinds over the top of the third climb. It paid off as we were the two teams finishing first and second."
Froome is one of 13 riders 10 seconds off the overall lead along with three of his team-mates – Doull, Dunbar and Michal Golas – while there are substantial gaps to many other hopefuls.
The Tour concludes with a 175km stage from Halifax to Leeds that features well over 3,000 metres of climbing through the Yorkshire Dales.
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