Britain’s Mark McNally produced another battling performance to extend his lead in the Skoda King of the Mountain competition as Eduardo Zardini of Bardiani Valvole took the Friends Life Tour of Britain race lead after an emphatic solo victory at the summit finish of the Tumble.

McNally got into the day’s break and with consistent scoring on the three intermediate climbs, continued the combative performance that has seen him in every breakaway so far.

Team Sky’s Sir Bradley Wiggins limited his losses on the steep finish outside Abergavenny to remain within 24 seconds of the leader on general classification. 

Stage three saw the riders face 179.9-kilometres from Newtown on the River Severn, finishing with a mountain top finale on The Tumble just outside Abergavenny. In between lay three categorised climbs at Dolfor, Knighton and Beggar’s Bush, along with Yodel sprint points at Lyswen, Abergavenny and Monmouth.

The day’s breakaway contained four British riders, Mike Cuming (Rapha Condor JLT), Tom Stewart (Madison Genesis), Elite Road Series winner Yanto Barker (Team Raleigh) and the man of the race so far, Mark McNally (An Post Chain Reaction) joined by continental pros Sebastian Lander (BMC Racing) and Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff Saxo).

McNally has been in the thick of the action since stage one, in every break of the race so far and ended the day in the lead of the Skoda King of the Mountains contest, notching up three second places atop the climbs of Dolfor, Knighton and Beggar’s Bush.

The escape group’s gap extended to two and a half minutes before the lead began to drop with around 90 kilometres to go.

But a temporary lull in the action saw the lead wax and wane before the peloton began to squeeze the accelerator and begin the inevitable catch as the potentially race-deciding climb of The Tumble loomed, basking in late summer sunshine.

Boaro and Lander shared the spoils in the Yodel sprint competition, Boaro taking the first gallop in Lyswen and Lander winning in Abergavenny and Monmouth.

After a brief attempt to escape by Boaro and Lander, Cuming counter-attacked alone but was soon joined by the Tinkoff Saxo rider and Stewart, and with less than 40-kilometres to go, the trio had two minutes and ten seconds on the peloton.

Sensing the danger the teams of the general classification contenders began to hit the front and chase down, Mark Cavendish swapping sprint for rouleur duties, working for their overall contender Michal Kwiatowski, with Team Sky amassing behind for Sir Bradley Wiggins.

The lead soon tumbled, down below a minute at 25 kilometres to go and when the British duo of Stewart and Cuming began to hesitate, Bouro went off alone with only 13 kilometres before the race hit the foot of The Tumble.

With the remains of the day’s break swept up with 12 kilometres to go, Bouro soldiered on alone but was caught at six kilometres to go and the battle of The Tumble was on.

Great Britain’s Tao Geoghegan-Hart was delivered to the foot of the climb but was soon swamped by the riders of Tinkoff Saxo and Omega Pharma-Quick Step who powered onto the steep inclines at the foot of the climb.

An attack from Garmin Sharp’s Jack Bauer was joined by Zardini (Bardiani Valvole), the two going clear on the steep slopes under the trees.

But with three kilometres to go Bauer sat up, leaving Zardini to go it alone with a 15 second lead on the field. Nicholas Roche (Tinkoff Saxo) bridged to the leader with the peloton fracturing behind.

Roche tried to drop Zardini but the Italian came back to Roche’s wheel before attacking with the flame rouge approaching, the Bardiani rider soloing away to take a fine victory and with it the Friends Life leader’s jersey. 

Sir Bradley Wiggins, who had been dropped from the chasing group, was helped to the line by teammate David Lopez, finishing fifth and staying in contact in the general classification.

After the stage, Ben Swift, runner-up in Llandudno and leader in the points competition commented on Team Sky's performance and their prospects for the remainder of the race.

“We wanted to keep Bradley in contention and limit our losses," said Swift, speaking to Team Sky. "We all rode well together. There was a bit of a hectic run into bottom of The Tumble and we lost each other a bit, but Bradley did a great job.

“It’s going to be tough but after the queen stage here it should return to a more regular format of the yellow jersey team controlling the race. Omega Pharma – Quick-Step did a great job today. We’ll just stick together as a unit.”

Wednesday's stage four travels 184.6 kilometres from Worcester to Bristol. Follow live updates from every stage of the Tour of Britain on the British Cycling website.

Results

Stage three
General classification after stage three