Tour de Yorkshire: Hermans emerges through crowds to win finale

Ben Hermans, of Belgium, rode to victory in the third and final stage of the inaugural event, in front of a huge crowd in Leeds’ Roundhay Park, but it was Nordhaug who wore the winner’s jersey at the finish.

Sky’s hopes for the race seemed to have been crushed on Friday’s opening stage, which began in Bridlington, when Rotherham’s Ben Swift – who was the favourite to win overall – was forced to abandon after crashing on a descent.

The two-time Tour de France-winning team rallied when Nordhaug won on the seafront at Scarborough and he led throughout the next two stages to claim overall victory by 11 seconds from Spain’s former Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez, with Thomas Voeckler finishing third, on the same time.

Nordhaug’s total time for the 515-kilometre race was 12 hours, 47 minutes 56 seconds, an impressive average speed of 40.228 kilometres per hour.

After a flat second stage, from Selby to York, Sky were forced to dig deep to protect Nordhaug’s advantage over the hilly final 167km from Wakefield.

Sky managed to prevent any breaks by the leading contenders and Nordhaug pipped Sanchez to a one-second sprint bonus late in the stage, which meant he had an 11-second advantage on the road, with only 10 available for the stage winner.

Hermans was no threat to the overall lead – he finished sixth at one minute five seconds – and was allowed to break clear in the closing stages, with his BMC team-mate Greg Van Avermart completing a notable one-two with second place, nine seconds back.

Sanchez (fourth), Nordhaug (sixth) and Voeckler (10th) finished together in a group on the same time as Van Avermart.

Rotherham’s Russell Downing was 25th on the stage, at five minutes 35 seconds behind the winner.

Sir Bradley Wiggins, riding for his own team in possibly his final race on the road, came in 42nd, three seconds behind Downing.

Wiggins, who is preparing for an attack on the world hour record, was 59th out of the 123 finishers, more than than 20 minutes behind Nordhaug.

Downing was 23rd overall, in a time of 12hr-55-54.

Yorkshire’s top finisher was Josh Edmondson, of the Great Britain team. The Leeds rider was 22nd at 7min50 behind the winner thanks largely to a daring break up the Cow and Calf.

Others from the county to complete the race were Liam Holohan (Leeds, Great Britain, 33rd at 9-25), Tom Stewart (Doncaster, Madison Genesis, 40th at 12-07), Gabriel Cullaigh (Holmfirth, Great Britain, 43rd at 12-08), Peter Williams (Skipton, OnePro, 70th at 22-26), Tom Moses (Keighley, JLT Condor, 73rd at 26-19), Harry Tanfield (Great Ayton, JLT, 82nd at 31-12), Oliver Wood (Wakefield, Great Britain, 90th at 32-13), Tom Barras (Keighley, NPC, 119th at 42-39) and JLT Condor’s Graham Briggs, of Doncaster, who was 123rd and final finisher overall, at 51-31.

Nordhaug admitted the final stage was “really hard”, but paid tribute to Swift for briefing the team before the race.

He said: “We knew what was coming up, so we were prepared.

“The team rode really strong on the front. They were fantastic and I felt like I was a passenger. I only had to pedal the last 200 metres.”

Nordhaug believes the Tour de Yorkshire has a huge future, after an estimated one million spectators visited the event.

He added: “I have ridden the Tour de France, which is a big race. Today really felt like a big stage in the Tour.

“The crowds were massive, it was fantastic and I will never forget the last stage, riding in the leader’s jersey.”

Hermans was delighted with his victory into Leeds.

He said: “It feels amazing, I could not believe for the last 5k I had almost 30 seconds.

“I said to myself they will never close this gap. I could not believe I won this stage.

“I think I attacked at the right moment. Sky knew I was not a threat for the overall, so they could let me go. I don’t know why the other riders didn’t go with me, but I just gave it a go.”

Of the event as a whole, Hermans’ observed: “It was an amazing race, good organisation, amazing crowds and a good atmosphere.

“It is a little bit strange to race on these roads, because they are not the same as in Europe.

“There is a lot of twists and corners, up and down. It is really hard racing here.”

The race was staged by Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), who also run the Tour de France.

Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France, fell in love with Yorkshire before and during last year’s Grand Depart. His return, for the county’s own race has only strengthened the bond.

“With a big smile,” he said, when asked how he has enjoyed the Tour de Yorkshire.

“It is nice to be back in Yorkshire and nice to walk on the coast for the first time, ever.

“The very first time I came to Yorkshire it was by helicopter, so I saw Scarborough, but not from the land.

“I am very impressed, there has been so many people. There has been crowds everywhere, on every climb it has been very impressive.

“I am very happy. As I said last summer, I knew Yorkshire was beautiful, but I didn’t know how gorgeous it was.

“It is an outstanding backdrop for a race. When you draw a race you need the roads, you need in terms of sport something interesting, you need the backdrop and you need passion.

“We have all those things.”

Prudhomme believes the Yorkshire tour will grow, but he added: “Already, for the very first one, it is already big.

“You don’t see so often so many people on the roads, even for very big races. I think it is really booming in the UK, especially in Yorkshire.

“There is a passion for cycling and pride from the people of Yorkshire, for getting the Tour last summer and for their race.

“It is their race. It is said in French because Gary (Verity) wanted that.”

Verity is chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire and the man who was behind the audacious plan to bring the Tour de France to the county last year.

He believes, in its own way, Yorkshire’s race has was just as impressive.

“Amazing, unbelievable” he said of the crowds attracted to the three-day spectacular.

“The finish was like something on The Mall.

“Without a shadow of doubt, this is the start of something big. One of the owners of one of the big cycle teams said to me ‘you are the new Belgiums – you have a passion for cycling more than anywhere else now’.

“I think we have always been a cycling area. There’s four things in our DNA: Yorkshire beer, fish and chips, cricket and now cycling.”