The third and final stage of the inaugural Tour of Yorkshire was characterized by six categorized climbs, which made for a tough day in the office. The 170 kilometers from Wakefield to Leeds got off to a fast start and it seemed that every team wanted to have a rider in the days break. Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung managed to put Reinardt Janse van Rensburg out front.

The break of five managed to gain a maximum advantage of around five minutes, before Sky decided to lift the tempo of the peloton for their race leader Lars-Petter Nordhaug. With around 50 kilometers to go the break split, with Lawson Craddock (Giant-Alpecin) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) being the only remnants.

The pair kept their gap on the peloton until Craddock decided to go solo. Nevertheless, this move was meant to be a lonely mission, as the peloton picked up the speed. With only a few kilometers to go Steve Cumming took his heart in his hands and tried to bridge across to Craddock. He put in a brave effort, but the attack was shut down by Sky and BMC. The latter team then sent eventual stage winner Ben Hermans up the road.

The Belgian rode across to Craddock and passed him around 2 kilometers before the finish line. He held on to a small lead to take the stage, while Nordhaug took the overall. Cymmings kept on fighting to the line and finished just outside the top 10 in 11th place.

"It was a spectacular race today, with the fantastic crowd here in Yorkshire. We wanted to be in the break today, and in the end it was me who managed to be in the right group. It was a hard fight to get into the move, but it was important. We didn’t need to chase and Steve could so save himself for the finale," van Rensburg said.

"The Tour of Yorkshire was an amazing race, given the spectators and good organisation. The team rode very active again and with Reinie we had one rider in the main break of the day. It was our goal to ride for Steve and Merhawi [Kudus]. Unfortunately, Merhawi crashed and lost contact to the group of favourites. Steve kept his head up high and attacked the favorites just a few kilometers before the end of the race. He was caught again, but I’m happy with how the team rode," sports director Jens Zemke said.