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Sheffield, Sunday April 30th 2017 – Serge Pauwels took his first pro victory at the end of a gruelling stage. The Belgian opened up a gap on the last few climbs and crossed the finish line ahead of Dimension Data teammate Omar Fraile. Pauwels also won the third edition of the Tour de Yorkshire.

Eight categorised climbs brutally shook the Tour de Yorkshire peloton on stage 3. This wasn’t going to be an easy day and it was written across the faces of the riders at the start in Bradford. Some of the younger local riders knew all too well the pain this stage was going to inflict. All eight climbs (including cobbles) pretty much were straight up, in that no nonsense Yorkshire way, none of this continental switching back to get to the top malarky.

Some of the climbers teams did some early testing of the pack and the pace was high. Pieter Weening (Roompot) dominated the first two climbs and was challenged on the 3rd by Dexter Gardiaz (Bike Channel Canyon) who beat him to the points. Shibden Wall was the 4th climb with a smattering of cobbles thrown into the mix; which luckily stayed dry for the racing. The fans were out in force decorating the road with messages of good luck and drawings to entice the riders to the top of this tough section. A six rider breakaway hit the slopes first, Pete Williams (One Pro Cycling) had to stop to change a wheel. Weening took the win on Shibden ahead of Gardiaz rivalling for the KoM overall.

There was a small section of respite before the final four climbs started. This didn’t, however, provide calm for some of the sprinters, stage 2 winner Nasar Bouhanni came down heavily and was knocked unconscious. He was taken to hospital and thankfully gained consciousness en route. The flatter section allowed the large chase group to catch the breakaway before the second hilly part of the race.

Thomas Voeckler’s team (Direct Energie) made an attack on the next climb but this seemed to do most damage to Thomas who slowly slipped backwards.

The last 14km had some of the sharpest and slowest climbs that would decide the race overall. Serge Pauwels got away on the penultimate hill with his teammate Fraile distracting the riders in the lead group. He got a good gap but Tao Geoghegan-Hart (Team Sky) kept trying to escape from the chase group to join Serge, but he just couldn’t quite manage it, Tao had an attacking race though overall, he should be proud of his work.

TdY Winner – Serge Pauwels with Sir Gary Verity

TdY2017 Winners Press Conference – Serge Pauwels Of Dimension Data & Sir Gary Verity by Cycling Shorts

Serge Pauwels of Dimension Data winner of the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire and race organiser Sir Gary Verity talk to the media. #TDY2017 Image ©CyclingShorts.cc | www.chrismaher.co.uk