Remco Evenepoel showed his finishing speed on the slopes of the Tumble to win stage 5 of the Tour of Britain Men, denying Britain’s Thomas Gloag and Oscar Onley in the sprint.
The Belgian Olympic champion and Soudal Quick-Step leader timed his effort perfectly after a day where the headwind made attacking difficult. He followed every dangerous move, before launching his sprint early on the final drag to the line to claim his second road race win of 2025.
Gloag, racing on home roads with Visma | Lease a Bike, pushed him all the way and crossed the line second, while Picnic PostNL’s Onley finished third. Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ came home in fifth to retain the overall lead by just two seconds over Evenepoel ahead of the final stage into Cardiff.
How the stage unfolded
The queen stage of this year’s race brought the riders into south Wales for two ascents of the famous Tumble climb. Before that came three categorised climbs, and it was a lively start as riders fought to get into the day’s breakaway. Geraint Thomas, racing one of his final days as a professional on home roads, was active but did not make the cut.
The move that went clear included Thomas’s fellow Welshman Finlay Tarling, Israel-Premier Tech’s young rider, along with king of the mountains leader Victor Vercouillie, Frederik Frison, and Noa Isidore. Their lead hovered around two and a half minutes, with Vercouillie mopping up more points to extend his grip on the climber’s jersey.
The peloton reeled them back in before the first time up the Tumble, where Evenepoel tested the legs with a sharp acceleration but soon realised the headwind made a solo move impractical. The climb split the break and trimmed down the bunch, with the race regrouping on the descent.
Ineos Grenadiers controlled the approach to the final ascent with Sam Watson leading out, followed by Lucas Hamilton, as Thymen Arensman and AJ August lined up to attack. Arensman made the first serious move with three kilometres remaining, chased by Evenepoel and Afonso Eulalio. Onley also tried his luck, as did August with repeated accelerations, but none stuck.
With less than two kilometres left, Pavel Sivakov powered clear, joined by Onley and Eulalio. Evenepoel hesitated, leaving it to Ilan van Wilder to close the gap. The Belgian domestique paced his leader back to the front under the flamme rouge, where the final selection of contenders prepared for the sprint.
Evenepoel launched from 200 metres out into the headwind, powering clear and holding off Gloag’s late surge. Onley finished a bike length back in third, with Grégoire in the same group to keep the overall lead by a slim margin.
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Evenepoel explained afterwards that the conditions dictated the finale: “The last 3k, the wind was blowing quite hard in the face and I quickly realised that we had to wait for the sprint. Ilan did a great job to bring the guys back and then it was up to me. I just focused on my sprint and went long – luckily I had the legs to keep it.”
For Gloag, second place marked a return to form after a tough season: “I’ve been searching for the right feeling for quite a while, but I’m glad to have found it again and to be able to show myself in finales. The team made sure Matthew [Brennan] and I were well positioned all day. I gave everything I had but just fell short of beating Remco.”
Onley, meanwhile, was pleased with his effort despite missing out on the win: “There was a strong headwind up the climb, which made it difficult to break away. I tried with Sivakov and a Bahrain rider, but it was hard to stay clear. I gave it everything in the sprint but Remco was stronger.”
2025 Tour of Britain Men Stage 5 result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Cor Vos
