Report: Men’s Tour of Britain Stage 5

Remco Evenepoel conquered the infamous Tumble climb in Monmouthshire, South Wales to earn his first Lloyds Tour of Britain stage win as Romain Grégoire finished in the elite lead group to maintain his slender lead in the general classification.

TOUR OF BRITAIN REPORT: REMCO EVENEPOEL TAKES THE TUMBLE TO NARROW BATTLE FOR THE OVERALL LEAD — Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) conquered the infamous Tumble climb in Monmouthshire, South Wales to earn his first Lloyds Tour of Britain stage win as Romain Grégoire (Groupama FDJ) finished in the elite lead group to maintain his slender lead in the general classification.

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Evenepoel, the reigning Olympic road race champion, had hinted before the start of the stage that he would be targeting the finish and this proved to be the case as he sprinted powerfully to victory ahead of two rising British stars in Thomas Gloag (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL).

Stage five, the Queen stage of the 2025 edition of the race, began in high spirits in Pontypool as the local Welsh fans flocked to see Geraint Thomas as he began the penultimate stage of his professional racing career on home roads.

The race itself began cagily, with the peloton remaining together as it tacked the first of five categorised climbs, Llangwm, where Alexis Guerin (Anicolor / Tien 21) was the first across the line. Nine riders finally broke the elastic to the peloton with 105 kilometers to go, with the group including the leader of the King of the Mountains competition Victor Vercouillie (Team Flanders – Baloise) along with Patrick Boje Frydkjaer (Lidl – Trek), Noa Isidore (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team), Frederik Frison (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto), Axel Huens (Unibet Tietema Rockets), Henrik Pedersen (Uno-X Mobility), Rafael Reis (Anicolor / Tien 21) and, on home roads in Wales, Finlay Tarling (Israel – Premier Tech).

Over the next two categorised climbs, the second category Itton Hill and the third category Old Ross Road, Vercouillie took maximum points to ensure he has now built an insurmountable lead in the King of the Mountains competition, and will win the classification, provided he finishes the race in Cardiff on Sunday.

With the Belgian’s job for the day completed, he quickly dropped back to the peloton as the race reached the bottom of the famous Tumble climb for the first time. The rest of the breakaway began to splinter and drop back also, meaning that at the summit just two members remained, Isidore and Reis, and it was Reis who was the first across the line.

Following a rapid descent into Blaenavon in the picturesque valley below, the race quickly came back together before Harttijs De Vries (Unibet Tietema Rockets) and Siebe Deweirdt (Team Flanders – Baloise) seized on some complacency in the group to attempt an optimistic breakaway of their own before the final kilometers.

This leading duo saw their advantage stretch out to well over a minute at points on the quick valley roads, where they passed the Intermediate Sprint at Usk, with Deweirdt taking first and De Vries second, as stage three victor Matthew Brennan (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) took third place behind to earn a valuable bonus second.

As the race approached Govilon and foot of the second and final ascent of The Tumble, Deweirdt and De Vries’ gap had shrunk to just 20 seconds as the General Classification teams behind began to up the pace in an attempt to outdrag each other to the lower slopes. As the peloton made the catch and the decisive climb began, it was Sam Watson and Lucas Hamilton (INEOS Grenadiers) who began to set the pace in an attempt to launch their teammates Thymen Arensman and AJ August, and it was Arensman who was the first of the GC favourites to make their move with 3.3km remaining.

The Dutchman was quickly closed down by the pre-race favourite Evenepoel, who was forced to set the tempo and when he slowed for just a moment, his rivals attempted to take advantage, with Alfonso Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious) and Onley quick to attack. It was Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) however who launched the most dangerous move so far, quickly gaining over 15 seconds as Eulalio and Onley followed the Frenchman.

Evenepoel appeared unfazed and relaxed, slipping back into the chasing bunch and relying on his valuable teammate Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) to move to the front and close the gap. This is exactly what Van Wilder did, as he displayed some of the impressive climbing form he has shown this year, meaning Evenepoel was back at the head of the race as they passed under the Flamme Rouge with a kilometer to go.

With the throngs of spectators lining the road now realising this was Evenepoel’s race to lose, he launched a vicious sprint with 350 metres to go, with the 23 year old Gloag not only able to hang on to the wheel but even look as though he could edge out the Belgian on the line, but it proved not to be the case as Evenepoel crossed the line, arm raised in victory, with Gloag chased home by Onley.

10 bonus seconds on the line for Evenepoel means he now sits second in the General Classification, as a strong climbing performance by Grégoire means he retains the green leaders jersey as well as the lead in the young riders classification. Julian Alaphilippe sits a further two seconds back on Evenepoel in third on GC, as Olav Kooij (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) continues to lead the Points classification. Rafael Reis earned the combativity award for the stage.

Speaking at the podium, Evenepoel said: “It was a very beautiful climb, the first part in the forest was very hard, very steep. I think the first time up the climb, we just wanted to see how it went. We went quite fast and the last 3k the wind was blowing hard in our face so I quickly realised we had to wait for the sprint.

“I know after a tough day and a hard line that I’ve got a good sprint so I just focused on my sprint and went out with a win. We’ll plan to go for the green leaders jersey I think. It would be great to come away with an overall win, it would be a really good confidence boost after a long time out of competition.”

Overall leader Gregoire added: “I’m really happy, it wasn’t easy. The last ascent was really hard, I wasn’t in an easy position but I wanted to fight to the finish and to keep the jersey. I’m in a good position, it’s better to be in front than behind. It’ll be a big fight tomorrow, I’ll try to keep the leader’s jersey, we will see tomorrow for the next stage.”

The final stage of the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men, on Sunday 7 September, sees the race starting from outside the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales in Newport, to celebrate the career of Geraint Thomas. The 112.2-kilometre stage gets underway at 11:45 and features the climb of Caerphilly Mountain inside the final ten kilometres of racing, with the finish coming on North Road in Cardiff, with live coverage on ITV4 and ITVX.

Stage six | Sunday 7 September | Newport to Cardiff

1. Remco Evenepoel
2. Thomas Gloag
3. Oscar Onley
7. Julian Alaphilippe
13. Joe Blackmore
17. Matthew Brennan
18. Tao Geoghegan Hart
25. Joshua Golliker
28. Mark Donovan
29. Harrison Wood
30. Huw Buck Jones
31. Zeb Kyffin
37. Sean Flynn
38. Fred Wright
54. Ethan Hayter
57. Joshua Giddings
62. Ben Swift
63. Sam Watson
67. Finlay Tarling
78. Ben Chilton
79. Joe Pidcock
99. Matthew Bostock
101. Matthew Walls
103. Geraint Thomas

Overall
1. Romain Gregoire
2. Remco Evenepoel
3. Julian Alaphilippe
4. Oscar Onley
12. Joe Blackmore
13. Thomas Gloag
15. Matthew Brennan
17. Tao Geoghegan Hart

Young Rider
3. Joe Blackmore
5. Matthew Brennan
7. Joshia Golliker
8. huw Buck Jones

Points
3. Matthew Brennan

KoM
1. Victor Vercouille
3. Joshua Golliker
https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=45&y=2025&e=5

Photo: Getty Images