2025 Lloyds Tour of Britain, stage 4: Grégoire seizes Burton Dassett summit to take Tour of Britain lead
Romain Grégoire announced himself as the man to beat at the 2025 Tour of Britain Men, powering past Sam Watson and holding off Julian Alaphilippe on the summit of Burton Dassett to win stage 4 and seize the leader’s jersey.
The Tour of Britain Men came alive in the Warwickshire hills as Romain Grégoire stormed to stage 4 victory at Burton Dassett Country Park, out-sprinting compatriot Julian Alaphilippe in a thrilling uphill finale that also carried him into the overall race lead.
Featured image: Bruce Rollinson/SWpix.com
Report
The 186.9km stage from Atherstone to Burton Dassett marked the race’s first real GC test, with six categorised climbs and a summit finish designed to shake the standings.
A four-man breakaway went clear early – Rory Townsend (Q36.5), Josh Golliker (Great Britain), Cedric Beullens (Lotto) and Victor Vercouillie (Flanders-Baloise) – building a lead of nearly five minutes. Vercouillie was the most active, sweeping up mountain points at Friz Hill, Fant Hill, Sun Rising Hill and the first ascent of Burton Dassett to take over the King of the Mountains jersey.
Joshua Golliker (Great Britain). Image: Bruce Rollinson/SWpix.com
The gap steadily came down under the watch of Picnic PostNL, Soudal Quick-Step and Tudor Pro Cycling, and with 20km to go the peloton was back together. That’s when Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) lit things up, attacking hard on the first ascent of Burton Dassett. AJ August (INEOS), Bauke Mollema (Lidl–Trek) and Pavel Sivakov (UAE) joined him, briefly catching the breakaway on the descent, but their move was shut down by a determined chase.
On the second lap, Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X) slipped clear over the top, forcing another regroup before the final showdown. UAE Emirates-XRG led onto the last climb, and with 600m to go British champion Sam Watson (INEOS) surged. He was quickly countered by Grégoire, who launched with 200m to go, powering past on the outside. Alaphilippe dived inside to chase, but the 22-year-old from Groupama-FDJ held firm, crossing the line clear to take both the stage and the leader’s jersey. Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) led the chasers home two seconds later.
The win pushes Grégoire two seconds ahead of overnight leader Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike), who faded on the final climb. With 29 riders still within 17 seconds of the lead, the GC battle is finely balanced heading into Wales.
“It’s incredible, I’m really happy with this victory,” Grégoire said. “The team did an amazing job, and to win in front of such a crowd is really special. Tomorrow is even harder, so we’ll see.”
Saturday’s stage 5 runs 133.5km from Pontypool to The Tumble, ending with a brutal double ascent of the five-kilometre summit finish – a day likely to decide the race.
The Tour of Britain Men came alive in the Warwickshire hills as Romain Grégoire stormed to stage 4 victory at Burton Dassett Country Park, out-sprinting compatriot Julian Alaphilippe in a thrilling uphill finale that also carried him into the overall race lead.
Featured image: Bruce Rollinson/SWpix.com
Report
The 186.9km stage from Atherstone to Burton Dassett marked the race’s first real GC test, with six categorised climbs and a summit finish designed to shake the standings.
A four-man breakaway went clear early – Rory Townsend (Q36.5), Josh Golliker (Great Britain), Cedric Beullens (Lotto) and Victor Vercouillie (Flanders-Baloise) – building a lead of nearly five minutes. Vercouillie was the most active, sweeping up mountain points at Friz Hill, Fant Hill, Sun Rising Hill and the first ascent of Burton Dassett to take over the King of the Mountains jersey.
The gap steadily came down under the watch of Picnic PostNL, Soudal Quick-Step and Tudor Pro Cycling, and with 20km to go the peloton was back together. That’s when Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) lit things up, attacking hard on the first ascent of Burton Dassett. AJ August (INEOS), Bauke Mollema (Lidl–Trek) and Pavel Sivakov (UAE) joined him, briefly catching the breakaway on the descent, but their move was shut down by a determined chase.
On the second lap, Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X) slipped clear over the top, forcing another regroup before the final showdown. UAE Emirates-XRG led onto the last climb, and with 600m to go British champion Sam Watson (INEOS) surged. He was quickly countered by Grégoire, who launched with 200m to go, powering past on the outside. Alaphilippe dived inside to chase, but the 22-year-old from Groupama-FDJ held firm, crossing the line clear to take both the stage and the leader’s jersey. Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) led the chasers home two seconds later.
The win pushes Grégoire two seconds ahead of overnight leader Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike), who faded on the final climb. With 29 riders still within 17 seconds of the lead, the GC battle is finely balanced heading into Wales.
“It’s incredible, I’m really happy with this victory,” Grégoire said. “The team did an amazing job, and to win in front of such a crowd is really special. Tomorrow is even harder, so we’ll see.”
Saturday’s stage 5 runs 133.5km from Pontypool to The Tumble, ending with a brutal double ascent of the five-kilometre summit finish – a day likely to decide the race.
Results
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