Tour of Britain: Wiggins defends gold jersey as race enters second half

Today Sir Bradley Wiggins of Sky finished stage 5 of the Tour of Britain in a winnowed-down group of riders containing stage winner Sam Bennett (Ireland/An Post-Chainreaction) to keep his gold leader’s jersey. Wiggins took the race lead on stage 3 by winning the 16-kilometre time trial.

Stage 5 traveled through Wales and ended with two climbs of the Category One Caerphilly hill before dropping into Caerphilly town. The day’s breakaway was reeled in by the Sky and Movistar-led peloton before the first ascent, triggering a Nairo Quintana attack. The Colombian from Movistar, who exploded on the scene at this year’s Tour de France where he was runner-up to Chris Froome, found his move neutralized on the descent between climbs. However, Quintana surged again on the second ascent, joining Tour de France stage 9 winner Dan Martin (Ireland/Garmin-Sharp).

Once more the small gold jersey group – led by second-place Sky man Ian Stannard – hauled back the attackers and a bunch of about 20 contested the sprint. IAM Cycling tried to launch third-place Martin Elmiger (Switzerland) for the win, but it was Bennett who was first into the final corner and held off his rivals.

Wiggins leads teammate Ian Stannard by 37 seconds and Elmiger by 43 seconds with three stages to go.

The Tour of Britain is a key World Road Championship warmup for several nations’ riders, and Great Britain’s men’s team is well represented with Wiggins, Stannard, Movistar’s Alex Dowsett and Mark Cavendish (winner of Stage 4) all on hand.