Magnier wins third Tour of Britain stage as Williams leads

France's Paul Magnier made it 3 shape wins connected this year's Tour of Britain pinch triumph connected time 5 successful Northampton.

The Soudal Quick-Step rider won nan opening shape successful Kelso earlier triumphing successful time four's Derby to Newark ride.

The 20-year-old sealed a hat-trick of shape wins connected nan 149.6km loop of Northampton erstwhile he timed his move to perfection against Ethan Vernon, who vanished 2nd successful a sprint for nan line.

Uno-X Mobility rider Erlend Blikra vanished third.

"I enjoyed it a lot," said Magnier.

"It was really difficult to drawback nan break - Remco [Evenepoel] did everything, he’s a super-fast rider arsenic you know. Julian [Alaphilippe] brought maine each clip to nan beforehand and I saved a batch of power there, and successful nan extremity I did my champion sprint for nan victory."

Magnier's triumph intends he tin now adjacent nan grounds of winning 4 individual stages successful nan aforesaid Tour of Britain erstwhile nan arena finishes connected Sunday pinch a 158km thrust betwixt Lowestoft and Felixstowe.

"Why not?" said Magnier.

“We’ll try, for sure. It’s already ace bully to return 3 victories, but for judge tomorrow we’ll effort to spell again."

In nan wide classification standings, Britain's Stevie Williams maintains a 16-second lead complete Oscar Onley, while Mark Donovan is 40 seconds disconnected nan gait successful third.

1. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, successful 3:12:09

2. Erlend Blikra (Nor) Uno-X Mobility

3. Ethan Vernon (GB) Israel-Premier Tech

4. Rasmus Pedersen (Den) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team

5. Matevz Govekar (Slo) Bahrain Victorious

6. Bob Donaldson (GB) Trinity Racing

7. Ethan Hayter (GB) 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, each astatine aforesaid time

1. Stevie Williams (GB) Israel-Premier Tech, successful 18:02:56

2. Oscar Onley (GB) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +16s

3. Mark Donovan (GB) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +40s

4. Tom Donnenwirth (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team, +41s

5. Joe Blackmore (GB) Israel-Premier Tech, astatine aforesaid 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