Excellent team work is displayed by Team Dimension Data back on Sunday on the final stage of Tour de Yorkshire. Serge Pauwels and his teammate Omar Fraile were the first two on the final stage. Pauwels, 33, was able to win the final Tour de Yorkshire stage from Bradford to Fox Valley.
Pauwels opened up a lead of more than 30 seconds on the Cote de Ewden Height and stayed steel as the other cyclists came back at him on the final climb of stage out of Midhopestones.
What a beautiful moment this was for our African Team, 1-2 at the @letouryorkshire!
??️: https://t.co/mSSBwGsRyw pic.twitter.com/QgkAR513Du
— Team Dimension Data (@TeamDiData) May 1, 2017
After his teammate was placed in the second place, came Jonathan Hivert from Direct-Energie team and then, in the fourth place was Berent Bookwalker from BMC team. Tao Geoghegan Hart was able to make his debut for his Team Sky in the fifth place.
Harsh competition
The finish line was certainly not easy to be crossed especially after passing eight categorized climbs and also, more than 3,700m of ascending.
Pauwels, when speaking after his victory, added: “The team was incredibly good today. The guys looked after us so well and controlled the race all day, it was then up to Omar and myself to be up there in the final. I had to pick my moment carefully and then when I went, Omar and Jacques did a fantastic job behind me.”
Super nice feeling to finish off the work of my teammates of @TeamDiData. Very happy with the victory @letouryorkshire! #BicyclesChangeLives pic.twitter.com/432CgGuF0y
— Serge Pauwels (@sergepauwels) April 30, 2017
He then added: “Omar then came across to me in the final kilometre. He has been a fantastic roommate to me this week and he is great guy. Basically, he gave me the victory today which makes him a great person. I didn’t know at the time how much work he was doing for me because when I got the gap my sports director, Roger Hammond, told me I was not allowed to look behind me one more time.”
Pauwels also admitted that for the last 10 km he thought the part as a time trial. It was only in the last kilometer when he was first able to see a wheel next to his bike. The fear they had caught him did only disappear when he realized the other man was his teammate Omar.
Stage three results of Tour de Yorkshire:
1. Serge Pauwels – Bel/Team Dimension Data -> 4hrs 57mins 47secs
2. Omar Fraile – Spa/Team Dimension Data -> Same time
3. Jonathan Hivert – Fra/Direct Energie -> +6secs
4. Brent Bookwalter – US/BMC -> Same time
5. Tao Geoghegan Hart – GB/Team Sky -> +8secs
Final classification of Tour de Yorkshire:
1. Serge Pauwels – Bel/Team Dimension Data -> 11 hrs 53mins 4secs
2. Omar Fraile – Spa/Team Dimension Data -> +6secs
3. Jonathan Hivert – Fra/Direct Energie -> +7secs
4. Brent Bookwalter – US/BMC -> +18secs
5 .Matthew Holmes – GB/Madison Genesis -> +20secs
