Harry Tanfield produced a stunning performance against the clock as Lars Boom won the stage five time trial at the OVO Energy Tour of Britain.
Boom rode himself into the leader’s jersey with a scintillating time of 19min 2sec in the 16km test around Clacton-on-Sea in Essex.
However, Tanfield’s remarkable time of 19.28 was enough to see him top the early timesheets as he lit the blue touchpaper for a thrilling battle.
The 22-year-old, from Great Ayton in North Yorkshire, has had a superb week so far, winning the combativity prize on stage three and sprinting to seventh spot yesterday.
And he further enhanced his soaring reputation by showcasing his class on a time trial bike to place 14th on the stage among a raft of world-class rivals.
Boom beat his Lotto NL Jumbo team-mate Victor Campanaerts by six seconds, with Team Sky’s Vasil Kiryienka completing the podium places a further second adrift.
Such was the strength in depth of the field, it would have graced any World Tour race with the rainbow jersey of Tony Martin sixth, Geraint Thomas eighth and Alex Dowsett ninth.
Stefan Kung (fourth), Jos van Emden (fifth) and Michal Kwiatkowski (seventh) were all in the mix, while Aussie Luke Durbridge rounded out the stellar top 10.
Tanfield was the highest-placed non-World Tour rider, with Marcin Bialoblocki, of CCC, the next best a further six seconds behind in 17th position.
Boom, Campanaerts and Kiryienka now fill the top three positions in the general classification, with Boom holding an eight-second advantage over the Belgian and nine over the Sky rider.
Rob Partridge clocked 21.30 for 83rd, while Rory Townsend and Chris Opie were 2.38 adrift of Boom in 93rd and 95th respectively. Dexter Gardias clocked 21.47 for 98th.
Click here to check out the final result from stage five and see how it has affected the general classification standings.
