Monday, April 21, 2025

Tour de Yorkshire 2018 – Stage 3 Wrap Up; A wall of sound for Maximillian Walscheid

-

HomeRaceRace ReviewsTour de Yorkshire 2018 - Stage 3 Wrap Up; A wall of...

A wall of sound greeted Maximillian Walscheid as he sprinted to victory on a sizzling third stage of the Tour de Yorkshire. The crescent-shaped slopes of Scarborough’s North Bay provided a perfect natural amphitheatre for the fourth year in succession and tens of thousands of fans bathed in temperatures hotter than Palma, Paris and Tenerife to watch another dramatic finish unfurl.

Maximillian Walscheid
Maximillian Walscheid takes the sprint on Stage three. Photo©SWPix.com

The total crowd of 650,000 had lined the 181km route from Richmond, taking the three-day total to a whopping 1.7 million!

Maximillian Walscheid
Photo©SWPix.com

It had looked as though French rider Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Énergie) was going to spoil the sprinters’ party once again, but the three-time Tour de France stage winner was caught with just 300m to go and Walscheid (Team Sunweb) fired past him to seal his first victory of the season.

[vsw id=”M_Ud-VoBHM0″ source=”youtube” width=”700″ height=”450″ autoplay=”no”]

Friday’s stage winner Magnus Cort Nielsen crossed the line just inches behind to take second place, and bonus seconds on the line saw him tighten his grip on the blue leader’s jersey sponsored by Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries. Astana Pro Team Rider now leads Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) by 10 seconds with just the final ‘Yorkshire Terrier’ stage remaining.

Maximillian Walscheid
Photo©SWPix.com

Nielsen also tops the best sprinter classification sponsored by Asda, while Michael Cuming (Madison Genesis) will defend the red best climber’s jersey (sponsored by Virgin Trains) for a third successive stage. Said Nielson;

“It was a tough stage, especially the final bit into Scarborough – but I’m still in the leader’s jersey and the team did a really good job. We managed to get a couple of bonus seconds on the line as well so I’m happy with that.

“The team have done a really good job, the goal was to defend the jersey and we’ve done that and we’re very happy with that.

“Sunday will be the big battle. I don’t know if I can look forward to it, I would have liked for the Tour to end in Scarborough but we take the match-up and see how we go.”

Maximillian Walscheid
Photo©SWPix.com

A five-strong breakaway saw the race strung out from the start, only for them to be captured 20km from the Scarborough finish.

But the race pace took its toll as the peloton split in two for the first time, with the sprint finish eventually seeing German Walscheid do the business in front of a packed-out crowd. But another man celebrating was Great Britain’s Pete Williams, earning the Dimension Data grey jersey as the most active rider of the day, voted by the fans.

He was part of the early breakaway while also taking points on the first King of the Mountain stage on the Yorkshire roads, an area he is becoming all too familiar with. But with points also came prizes for Williams – or more specifically his new-born son, Maxwell.

“It’s always nice to come away with a jersey, it’s something I can show my boy who was born last week, and I knew he was watching on the TV which is nice. To have the support is nice, ONE Pro Cycling do a lot with the fans and that interaction, so to have that support is fantastic.

“This event is a huge event for our team, it’s a highlight of the year – it’s massively important for us to do well and show ourselves, as well as enjoying it.

“The legs aren’t too bad, they’re coming round but Sunday is a different day – it’s an incredibly tough one but it goes past my house and my front door, in Skipton, which is nice. It’s fantastic, the roads are closed so to have that opportunity with all the crowd out – in an area you know – is really special.”

Yorkshire Bank is an Official Partner of the Tour de Yorkshire and the ground-breaking Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries initiative. Visit www.ybonline.co.uk/tdy

Thanks to Ross Lawson, Sportsbeat

VeloVeritas
VeloVeritas
Here at VeloVeritas, we provide our readers with truthful, accurate, unique and informative articles about the sport we love. We attend many local races as well as work on the professional circuit, from the local "10" mile time trial to the "monuments" - classics like Milan-SanRemo and the Tour of Lombardy, the World Road and Track Championships, the winter Six Days and the Grand Tours; le Tour de France, il Giro d'Italia and la Vuelta a España.

Related Articles

Scottish Road Race Championships 2007

The result may have been predictable, but Evan Oliphant (DFL) only took home the gold medal in a sodden Scottish Road Race Championships 2007 after an incident-packed four hours. Taking a well-deserved silver medal and 'moral victor' of the championship was pre-race favourite Raymond Wilson (Dunfermline CC).

Scottish Cycling Super 6 Series – Event 2, Wanlockhead

"I knew you'd ask that! With my team mate Gordon Murdoch in second place in the series, there's no pressure on me, and all I would say is that it'll be hard for someone to win who's not in Pedal Power!". Those were the words of Gary Hand in the run up to this weekend's race, and with Ben Greenwood (Rapha Condor-Recycling) pulling out of the second round of the Scottish Cycling Super 6 due to injury, it looked set to follow a similar pattern to the first round; being dominated by Pedal Power.

Commonwealth Games 2014 – Track, Day Three

Australia had another great day at the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome, collecting another five medals to add to the previous two days haul of ten, putting them top of the cycling table with six more than any other country. For the second day in a row, the Men's Para Tandem provided one of the most memorable moments. This time it was the Sprint competition and again it was the Scottish pair of Neil Fachie and Craig MacLean, winning the final two-matches-to-one and celebrating with their families whilst the crowd joined in singing to them, who brought the proceedings to a halt.

Le Tour de France 2016 – Stage 21; Chantilly – Paris Champs-Élysées. Greipel Wins, We Reflect

I braved the tourists and human statues up on Edinburgh’s High Street to see if I could get Monday’s L’Equipe in the International Newsagents – it’s the one for all the good Tour stats. But alas, no dice – I had to settle for Sunday’s Observer and Monday’s Guardian where it’s wall to wall Christopher and Sky.

At Random

Dave Lloyd – “There’s never a day when I don’t want to go out on my bike”

It’s hard to believe that it’s 40 years since UK bike fans read the news that ‘wunderkind’ Dave Lloyd wasn’t going to achieve his dream of riding the Tour de France, in fact, his professional career was over due to a congenital heart complaint.

Patrick Galbraith – Philadelphia Criterium Winner

Evan Oliphant isn't the only Scotsman who's been winning races in the US of A. - up-and-coming under 16 rider, Patrick Galbraith recently scored a criterium win in Rocky Balboa's home town - Philadelphia (what do you mean "it's just a movie!?)...

Joshua Tarling – Rainbow Bands and a Pro Contract

Joshua Tarling has just taken the biggest win of his young life – the World Junior Individual Time Trial Championships in Woolongong by 19 seconds from Hamish McKenzie of Australia at 49.395 kph, and he's been snapped up by the mighty INEOS team, continuing the trend for young talents to skip u23 and go straight to the World Tour.

Copenhagen Six Day 2010 – Getting There

On my way to the Copenhagen Six Day 2010 and Scotland was beautiful this morning, the views from the window of the British Midland jet were stunning, the Pentlands covered in snow, the 'terriers head' of Fife framed by the Forth and Tay; the Isle of May seeming to hover in the air, guarding the mouth of the Forth.