2. Dylan van Baarle (Garmin-Sharp)
2. Dylan van Baarle (Garmin-Sharp)
As seen with Simon Yates, the Tour of Britain is fast developing a reputation for turning up bright young stars, and this year it was the turn of Dylan van Baarle.
The Garmin-Sharp man, tenth at the Dubai Tour after joining from the Rabobank Development Team, stepped up in style.
The 22-year-old Dutchman went into the race still relatively unknown and came out of it with the yellow jersey and big hopes for his future.
A Giro d’Italia debutant this year, even his 12th place on The Tumble had done little to mark him as a big contender.
Indeed, as stage seven kicked off the biggest question was whether Alex Dowsett (Movistar) would have the legs to hold the leader’s jersey from Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) after his efforts in the break on stage seven.
Instead van Baarle bagged third, again from the break, to usurp both before holding the leader’s jersey in London.