Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo) took the overall lead at the Tour of Britain, with a decisive victory in the stage five time trial. The Dutchman, who won the race in 2011, beat teammate and European time trial champion Victor Campenaerts into second place by six seconds, while Stefan Küng (BMC) was two seconds further back in third place.
Boom's time of 19:02 was one of the last to be set, and gives him a GC lead of eight seconds over Campenaerts. Seven further riders lie within twenty seconds of the lead, setting up an intriguing race situation going into the final three stages.
For his first win since 2015, it was a commanding one for Boom. He set the fastest time at the 8km checkpoint, clocking 9 minutes exactly. Before Boom's blitz, the quickest riders to the halfway mark were Küng, Alex Dowsett (Movistar) and Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin), setting times a full 18 seconds slower.
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The wind, a tailwind from the start along Clacton coast but a headwind on the way back to the finish, was a factor as many riders posted slower times in the second half of the stage. One might have expected Boom to slow considerably during the second half, but he held on for a comfortable victory.
"I know I always go out quite hard," he said after the stage. "So I knew already that with the headwind in the last four kilometres I might drop some seconds, but in the end, I could keep it [my gearing] on 45, 48 so it was quite OK."
"For sure [I'm pleased], especially if you see all the names in the top 10. I'm really happy with it. The week before I came to Britain I had some problems with my stomach, so I was looking for shape but in the end, the feeling was pretty good on the TT bike.
How it unfolded
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