Van der Poel wins Tour of Britain's fourth stage

Kendal  - Mathieu van der Poel took over as the Tour of Britain's overall leader after winning Tuesday's fourth stage from Gateshead to Kendal.

The Dutchman who rides for Corendon-Circus made his move on a sharp rise in the closing stages of the 173.2km stage.

He tracked the three-rider breakaway before blowing away the rest of the reduced field, with Jasper De Buyst (Lotto-Soudal) and Simon Clarke (EF Education First) following him home and completing the podium.

Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) finished in ninth place and conceded his race lead. Van der Poel is ahead by a second.

"It was a bit of gamble because I didn't really know where the finish line was," Van der Poel said of his push to the finish line.

"I got bumped in yesterday and I didn't want that to happen again today, so I went full gas 300 metres to go. It was a bit far but got I got a gap and the final 100m was a bit easier.

"It's really nice to win this stage. It was a really, really hard stage, with lots of climbing."

Results of the Tour of Britain's fourth stage between Gateshead and Kendal on Tuesday:

Stage four

1. Mathieu van der Poel (NED/COC) 4hr 23min 08sec, 2. Jasper De Buyst (BEL/LOT) at 3 secs, 3. Simon Clarke (AUS/EF1) s.t, 4. Ben Swift (GBR/INE) s.t, 5. Amund Grondahl Jansen (NOR/JUM) s.t

Overall standings

1. Mathieu van der Poel (NED/COC) 17hr 36min 27sec, 2. Matteo Trentin (ITA/MTS) at 1 sec, 3. Jasper De Buyst (BEL/LOT) at 7 secs, 4. Simon Clarke (AUS/EF1) at 14 secs, 5. Mike Teunissen (NED/Jumbo) at 15 secs