The most exciting stage so far in the Tour of Britain was close to turning the overall classification upside down in favour of the Movistar Team, whose rider Gorka Izagirre tried to repeat Alex Dowsett’s move exactly on stage six in 2014.

An eight-man attack led almost half of the demanding journey towards Nottingham (192km) with around a minute’s gap over a 20-rider yellow jersey group including Rubén Fernández, not Beñat Intxausti, who sat in 4th overall up to date, and only two riders from Sky, fighting to help out Wout Poels, 2nd overall.

Only the late help by Cult, Tinkoff and an attack by the leader Boasson Hagen, 2nd in the stage, behind Trentin (EQS), ruined Izagirre's chances, the Spanish allrounder caught with 7km to go and later rewarded with the Combativity prize. Fernández is now 7th overall, with no major changes expected in the two flat stages remaining until London on Sunday.