Lewis Askey successfully navigated another day in the Tour of Britain leader’s jersey as the race hit a windy Yorkshire on Friday – and immediately turned his attentions to tomorrow’s queen stage.
Staying alert was key to Askey’s jersey defence on the roads between York and Beverley on stage three, as the peloton was blasted by strong winds for the second day running.
Unlike on Thursday, when the wind wreaked havoc in the closing 65 kilometers, the peloton largely stayed intact throughout, even when Netcompany INEOS tried to split things after the day’s final climb at Keepers Hill.
“Obviously, these past two days on paper should have been relatively easy for me to keep the jersey, but in the end, they were anything but that,” he says. “With the wind we’ve had on both days, I’m pretty happy to come out of that unscathed and ready to fight tomorrow.
“The wind caused a lot of stress all day, right from the start. I think it was more nervous energy than anything else.”
Askey leads Tim Wellens by 12 seconds, with 2019 runner-up Matteo Trentin sitting 19 seconds in arrears. Saturday’s stage through the North York Moors to the Yorkshire Dales is effectively the main GC showdown of this year’s race.
He adds: “I’m in the best position in the whole race at the moment. There’s nobody else on less time than I am, so all I have to do is follow. No one can beat me on time bonuses tomorrow, so I’ve just got to grit my teeth and not let the wheel go.
“I think the positive is that the group of guys at the head of the GC are rouleurs, there aren’t any specific climbers, so I think that plays into my advantage.
“Either way, it’s going to be a really hard stage, and my life is definitely not going to be easy. I’ll fight all the way to the line, and even if I don’t hold on to the jersey, I’ve still got to do the best ride I can.”
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