de Maar Wins Stage 5 of Tour of Britain, van Poppel 3rd
9/14/2012Team UnitedHealthcare’s Marc de Maar won Stage 5 of the Tour of Britain, held September 13 in Stoke-on-Trent. de Maar was joined on the podium by teammate Boy van Poppel, who took third place.
In a decisive victory, de Maar crossed the finish line 15 seconds ahead of the next rider. “It was a tough start,” he said. “The climbs were hard and punchy, and the wind on the tops of the climbs so we tried to be up there with as many guys as possible so we ended up with three guys in the first group, a perfect situation. Boy was up there, so we said, ‘Let’s try to go in the breakaway,’ so that’s what we did, and I won the stage. It took some effort to stay away, but as soon as the finish came closer, I started to believe in it and all of a sudden I had something extra to put on my pedal. I’m really proud of my teammates and myself.”
van Poppel has been turning in excellent performances throughout the Tour: Thursday’s podium was his fourth top-five finish of the week. As he heads into the final three stages, Van Poppel holds on to the blue jersey for the points classification and also sits in second place in the general classification. UHC holds second place in the team GC.
Maxxis congratulates Marc de Maar on his victory and thanks Boy van Poppel and all of the riders of Team UnitedHealthcare for their fine performances.
