Description
September 4, 2025
21st Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men 2025 🇬🇧 (2.Pro) ME – Stage 3 – Milton Keynes – Ampthill : 122,8 km
The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race,
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September 4, 2025
21st Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men 2025 🇬🇧 (2.Pro) ME – Stage 3 – Milton Keynes – Ampthill : 122,8 km
The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the Second World War. Since then, various different events have been described as the Tour of Britain, including the Milk Race, the Kellogg’s Tour of Britain and the PruTour. The most recent version of the Tour of Britain began in 2004 as part of the UCI Europe Tour. From 2014, the race was rated 2.HC by the UCI. The race became part of the new UCI ProSeries in 2020.
Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) won a frantic bunch sprint to take the victory on stage 3 of the Tour of Britain in Ampthill.
Brennan profited from a blistering leadout from teammate and race leader Olav Kooij to easily win ahead of Alberto Dainese (Tudor) and Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to make it a trio of stage wins for Visma-Lease a Bike.
It was a slightly unusual change of role, with Kooij sacrificing his chances for Brennan, rather than the Briton supporting the race leader.
“It was always the plan – they said, ‘we cannot have you going to your home race and not try and win something’,” Brennan said. “To be given this opportunity, especially when Olav is leading, it’s really special, and I’m really thankful for that.”
Kooij finished inside the top 10 to hold onto his green leader’s jersey. With the time bonus for the stage win, Brennan climbed into second place in the GC standings at 10 seconds, with Dainese moving into the podium position in third at 14 seconds.
After winning the first two stages, Kooij said he was happy to deliver Brennan to the stage win on Thursday.
“[It was] another day where we work hard to get a sprint in the first place, and we had a plan to turn it around for today,” Kooij said. “I was happy to do my job and deliver [Brennan] in a good way.
“We were looking at the course, and I think we knew in the first few stages we would definitely have a good shot. The rest of the week is a bit harder, so we will see. With the team we have here, we had the option, so it’s also nice to use them.”
Kooij acknowledged that the race will shift in a different direction on Friday, with more climbs bringing the overall contenders to the fore.
“I think there’s going to be fireworks tomorrow,” Brennan said. “I think potentially GC is going to have a little bit of a shake-up, but I think it’s something to look forward to – we’ll see what happens.”
How it unfolded
It was a rainy start to the day for the 122.8-kilometre stage 3 from Milton Keynes to Ampthill, but the weather didn’t dampen the enthusiasm in the bunch as several attacks went from the official start.
The elastic quickly snapped as the peloton was strung out across the countryside and finally, as a four-rider group went clear, the rain let up.
Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep), Robin Froidevaux (Tudor), Mats Wenzel (Kern Pharma), and Ben Chilton (Great Britain) made the move that dominated the stage, gaining a maximum of 90 seconds.
Wenzel won the two intermediate sprints in Northill and split the two KOM sprints in Hillfoot with Ben Chilton.
Their advantage began to come down in the closing kilometres, and an attack from Axel Huens (Unibet Tietema Rockets) only served to bring the chasing bunch closer to the leaders.
Despite a late surge from Pedersen and Froidevaux, with 11km to go, the race was all back together.
Flanders Baloise, Tudor and Unibet Tietema Rockets led the bunch into the final kilometre but were quickly overtaken by Visma-Lease a Bike wtih Kooij pulling Brennan into the winning position.
Results :
 ME - Stage 3 </strong> - Milton Keynes - Ampthill : 122,8 km
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The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the Second World War. Since then, various different events have been described as the Tour of Britain, including the Milk Race, the Kellogg's Tour of Britain and the PruTour. The most recent version of the Tour of Britain began in 2004 as part of the UCI Europe Tour. From 2014, the race was rated 2.HC by the UCI. The race became part of the new UCI ProSeries in 2020.
Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) won a frantic bunch sprint to take the victory on stage 3 of the Tour of Britain in Ampthill.
Brennan profited from a blistering leadout from teammate and race leader Olav Kooij to easily win ahead of Alberto Dainese (Tudor) and Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to make it a trio of stage wins for Visma-Lease a Bike.
It was a slightly unusual change of role, with Kooij sacrificing his chances for Brennan, rather than the Briton supporting the race leader.
"It was always the plan - they said, 'we cannot have you going to your home race and not try and win something'," Brennan said. "To be given this opportunity, especially when Olav is leading, it's really special, and I'm really thankful for that."
Kooij finished inside the top 10 to hold onto his green leader's jersey. With the time bonus for the stage win, Brennan climbed into second place in the GC standings at 10 seconds, with Dainese moving into the podium position in third at 14 seconds.
After winning the first two stages, Kooij said he was happy to deliver Brennan to the stage win on Thursday.
"[It was] another day where we work hard to get a sprint in the first place, and we had a plan to turn it around for today," Kooij said. "I was happy to do my job and deliver [Brennan] in a good way.
"We were looking at the course, and I think we knew in the first few stages we would definitely have a good shot. The rest of the week is a bit harder, so we will see. With the team we have here, we had the option, so it's also nice to use them."
Kooij acknowledged that the race will shift in a different direction on Friday, with more climbs bringing the overall contenders to the fore.
"I think there's going to be fireworks tomorrow," Brennan said. "I think potentially GC is going to have a little bit of a shake-up, but I think it's something to look forward to - we'll see what happens."
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
It was a rainy start to the day for the 122.8-kilometre stage 3 from Milton Keynes to Ampthill, but the weather didn't dampen the enthusiasm in the bunch as several attacks went from the official start.
The elastic quickly snapped as the peloton was strung out across the countryside and finally, as a four-rider group went clear, the rain let up.
Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep), Robin Froidevaux (Tudor), Mats Wenzel (Kern Pharma), and Ben Chilton (Great Britain) made the move that dominated the stage, gaining a maximum of 90 seconds.
Wenzel won the two intermediate sprints in Northill and split the two KOM sprints in Hillfoot with Ben Chilton.
Their advantage began to come down in the closing kilometres, and an attack from Axel Huens (Unibet Tietema Rockets) only served to bring the chasing bunch closer to the leaders.
Despite a late surge from Pedersen and Froidevaux, with 11km to go, the race was all back together.
Flanders Baloise, Tudor and Unibet Tietema Rockets led the bunch into the final kilometre but were quickly overtaken by Visma-Lease a Bike wtih Kooij pulling Brennan into the winning position.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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