The 14km time trial from the Forest Park to the pass between Whinlatter and Grizedale in Cumbria was a novelty for the Tour of Britain but the main beneficiaries were less of a surprise. Victory for Primoz Roglic’s LottoNL-Jumbo team placed the Slovenian in therace leader’s green jersey but he goes into Friday’s decisive stage through the Lake District with the Quickstep duo Julian Alaphilippe and Bob Jungels breathing down his neck and Team Sky’s Wout Poels handily placed.

Finishing a team time trial uphill with the time taken on the fourth rider across the line magnified the central dilemma presented by the discipline: how to manage the weaker elements and hold the show together while going as fast as possible.

Even the BMC team of Patrick Bevin – who was leading the race going into the day – suffered, having to wait for Stefan Küng, who was visibly struggling at the end, yet the Swiss was the fourth counter. That accounted for part of their 40-second deficit, and the loss of the green jersey.

Unlike the other teams at the top of the standings, LottoNL managed to finish five riders together, although Neilson Powless was clearly struggling; Sky lost their fifthwith 2km remaining, having dropped Chris Froome 4km out; but Quickstep were reduced to the minimum four soon after the start, and that probably accounted for their 16sec deficit.

Quick Guide Tour of Britain overall standings Show 1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 15hr 45min 4sec 2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors +6sec 3 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors +16sec 4 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team +24sec 5 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky +26sec 6 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo +34sec 7 Jasha Sutterlin (Ger) Movistar Team +36sec 8 Jos van Emden (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo +37sec 9 Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo +37sec 10 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott +42sec



Roglic, as well as finishing fourth in this year’s Tour de France, has turned winning shorter stage races into his speciality, taking the Tour of the Basque Country, Tour de Romandie and Tour of Slovenia this season. He arrived here short of form after recent operations to remove gravel from an elbow but he will be hard to shake.

The biggest loser was Hugh Carthy, whose EF Education team have a good pedigree in this discipline but were well off the pace in 17th, 1min 44sec behind, ending the Preston rider’s overall challenge. To complete a disappointing day for the US team, their sprinters Dan McLay and Sacha Modolo – second and eighth the previous day – finished outside the day’s time limit and were eliminated.

Climbing Whinlatter once would be enough for most cyclists but Friday sees two more ascents of the pass, both from the harder eastern side, with one brief pitch at 25%. The 105-mile stage has two other climbs rated first category and should conclude the battle for the overall title. Alaphilippe, Jungels and Poels have a straightforward task: dislodge Roglic and the race will be theirs.