Albert Timmer got agaonizingly close to his first professional victory when he was passed by Michal Kwiatkowski just metres from the line in today's stage of the Tour of Britain. The Ducthman was disappointed to have missed a great opportunity by the tiniest of margins.

Albert Timmer spent all day in the breakaway before being caught and passed by one chaser in the dying metres of the fourth day of racing at the Tour of Britain.

Timmer was part of the day’s nine man break before attacking and pulling clear in the final kilometres. He was then joined by Jack Bauer before pulling away again in the sprint, but before the line he was passed by Michal Kwiatkowski (OPQS) who jumped across from the chase group just behind to deny Timmer his first professional victory.

After effectively riding ‘easy’ on yesterday’s stage, as easy as you can when riding a professional race, the team were keen to make an impact on today’s stage and to infiltrate the day’s breakaway and see how far they could push on to the finish.

Timmer was the one to make it up the road and with eight other escapees for company he set about extending the advantage over the chasing peloton.

The gap went out to nearly six minutes by mid way through the 184.6km stage, but with 20km to go their advantage was down to 2’20″ and falling fast. Timmer showed that he was one of the strongest in the front group by pulling away in the final stages with two others as they headed towards the final test of the day, a short, sharp hill in the final three kilometres of the day.

As the road kicked up, Timmer went again, pulling away from the two riders left at the front, and putting in his final bid for victory. The front of the peloton was not far behind, but he managed to hold on until the final kilometre where he was joined by one chaser.

These two pushed on towards the finish, constantly looking back at the chasers that they held at a handful of second but as the line came into sight, Kwiatkowski jumped from behind and passed Albert as he launch his own sprint. It’s Timmer’s first podium finish of the season, but he will be bitterly disappointed to miss out on a win by such a small margin at the end of a long, hard day in the saddle.

The team also had another disappointment on the day as Brian Bulgac had to withdraw from the race, falling sick before the the stage start then struggling to consume any food during the race. The team decided to call it a day halfway through the stage.

Coach Marc Reef said after the stage: “We wanted to be in the break today and the two Tom’s [Stamsnijder and Veelers] and Albert were the ones going for it. Albert was the one who got away and with the hill late on I think he was the best guy to be up there.

“It was so close and it’s such a shame he was denied at the end. He really wanted it today and did everything right during the stage, and at the end as well. He has gone close a few times this year but today was the closest he has got and it’s a shame he couldn’t take the win for himself today. That is the way it goes though.”

“The stage was just 100m to long for me today,” conceded Timmer after the stage. “I tried today, I was feeling good and gave it everything. I wanted to be in the break today and got away early on one of the first climbs with a few others, over the top I was on my own and pushed on then eight guys came across so it was perfect.

“Then towards the end with about 12k to go the cat and mouse games started. The Garmin guy jumped and got away with Velits, then I waited and jumped across. On the final hill we could see the peloton so I put in a big effort. I could recover a bit in the wheel of Bauer when he came across and then I gambled everything on the sprint – I think that is all I could have done there.

“I looked back and saw Kwiatkowski coming but that was too late. He was coming with speed and I started sprinting but couldn’t stop him coming past. It’s disappointing yes but there wasn’t much else I could do. I’m feeling alright, I had a few stomach problems yesterday but felt pretty good all day today. Hopefully there will be more opportunities for us over the next few days.”