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Cycling: Winn seizes a rare chance of victory

Martin Ayres
Thursday 28 May 1998 00:02 BST
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JULIAN WINN, of Wales, took advantage of a temporary truce by the big hitters in the Prutour of Britain to win the fourth stage from Chester to Nottingham.

The race leader, Stuart O'Grady, and second-placed Chris Boardman had their minds fixed on today's crunch stage from Birmingham to Cardiff. They sheltered in the peloton while their Gan team-mates patrolled the front of the race to ensure that no rivals sneaked away.

"It was hard work for the rest of team as they kept the pace high to deter breakaways but Stuart and I enjoyed an armchair ride," Boardman said.

The Welsh and British national teams had anticipated Gan's strategy and went on the attack from the start. At 16 miles, after several moves had been neutralised, Winn opened a 100-yard gap. Britain's Kevin Dawson sprinted across to join him and they committed themselves to a long breakaway effort.

Both riders were more than 18 minutes in arrears on overall times, no threat to Boardman and co, and the pack was happy to see the Anglo-Welsh duo disappear into the Cheshire lanes. The only major climb of the day, the seven-mile-long Cat and Fiddle in Derbyshire, saw the pair crest the summit with eight minutes in hand over the main pack.

A counter-attack by the US Postal team provoked Gan to swing into action, chasing down the danger men, Daniel Baranowski and Tyler Hamilton, before resuming their positions at the head of the bunch.

The 95-mile ride held no fears for Winn, an ex-mountain biker who turned to road racing last year, and Dawson, the British 100-mile time trial champion. "We shared everything. The pace making, the drinks and the food," Winn said.

They also agreed to share a pounds 1,000 sprint prize on the outskirts of Nottingham, although Dawson was first through the sprint point.

With the peloton closing fast it was touch and go on the run-in to Nottingham city centre, but the breakaways held out for Winn to take the sprint by half a length.

Only 50 seconds later, the 69-strong main pack roared home and O'Grady completed a good day for Gan by snatching third place. With time bonuses awarded to the top three, O'Grady increased his advantage over Boardman to 21 seconds.

Tuesday's stage winner, Jay Sweet, crashed in the closing miles and trailed home 74th, 1min 15sec off the pace.

The home riders are likely to find life more difficult in today's 129- mile leg to Cardiff, which includes key mountain climbs at Abergavenny and Caerphilly.

PRUTOUR (Fourth stage, Chester to Nottingham, 95 miles): 1 J Winn (GB) Wales 3:39:06; 2 K Dawson (GB) Britain same time; 3 S O'Grady (Aus) Gan at 50sec; 4 A Korff (Ger) Festina; 5 C Lillywhite (GB) Britain; 6 E Gragus (US) Oilme, all same time. Leading overall positions: 1 O'Grady 17:47:01; 2 C Boardman (GB) Gan at 21sec; 3 D Baranowski (Pol) US Postal Service +0:33; 4 G Hincapie (US) US Postal Service +0:35; 5 N Stephens (Aus) Festina +0:46.

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