Tour de Yorkshire 2019 result: Chris Lawless strikes deal with Greg van Avermaet to win race for Team Ineos

At times cycling can be a simple contest of the lungs and the legs, but often it is more a delicate game of strategy and negotiation. Here in Yorkshire, Team Ineos’s 23-year-old Chris Lawless struck up a deal with Greg van Avermaet as the finish line approached, agreeing to let the Dutch rider clinch the stage in exchange for working hard together right to the end to ensure the Briton would take the overall race win.

It was not a deal last year’s winner Van Avermaet would have been particularly happy to strike, but he had little choice: Ineos had pulled off a tactical masterstroke in an entertaining 175km ride from Halifax to Leeds, and the Dutch rider was left in a trio with Lawless and his Ineos team-mate Eddie Dunbar, outnumbered and outmanoeuvred. In the end it was all he could do to take the stage win on offer.

It marked the highlight of Lawless’s young career and showed that he is more than just a sprinter, but a hardy road racer with all-round ability. “I can’t believe it,” he said afterwards. “If someone would have told me I’d win this race before it started, I’d have called them a barefaced liar.” Asked where it ranked among his achievements, Lawless had no hesitation. ”The biggest.”

He was also quick to credit his team-mates: this was undoubtedly a team performance, and not one scripted to the nth degree in a team meeting the night before but played out with instinct and nous on the road, each rider playing their part.

Ian Stannard pulled hard in the early stages to ensure the initial nine-man breakaway was never more than three minutes up the road. Owain Doull dragged Lawless back in contention as he flagged on the climb out of Otley. Then Chris Froome attacked, shedding several rivals including Saturday’s stage winner on the Scarborough seafront, Alexander Kamp.

Most telling of all was the contribution of the 22-year-old Dunbar, who broke to the front of the race with 15km to go, ensuring Van Avermaet would be sandwiched between Ineos riders whichever path he chose.

Then it was over to Lawless. With a few seconds advantage overnight, he knew that he needed to stick to Van Avermaet’s wheel, realising that if he finished near the Dutchman and reigning Olympic road race champion he was likely to win the race. So when Van Avermaet accelerated at the top of the Chevin, Lawless gritted his teeth and went with him. “It’s the deepest I’ve ever dug,” he said. ”If I had to pick out a point which was the race-winning effort, that was it.”

Lawless played down the deal struck on the way to the line, which led to an uncontested sprint finish, insisting it was not cynical but a necessary part of racing. “I really needed Greg to ride with me. We knew Kamp was chasing. I’m not sure if I’d try to come round Greg I’d have even been able to win it because just sticking on his wheel was pretty hard.”

“I’ve always looked up to Greg, he was a professional when I started racing my bike aged 13. So it was pretty surreal – it felt pretty special to be talking to Greg and up there with Eddie too, one of my best friends.”

For Ineos it marked the perfect start, winning their first race only days after the controversial new sponsor of the former Team Sky had been booed on the startline by anti-fracking protestors. “It’s super important that we did well, and that I could repay Ineos,” said Lawless. ”They’ve saved the team. They’ve kept 30 guys in jobs, and that’s just the riders. We’ve got over 100 employees. They’ll be over the moon to get success so soon.”

For Froome it was more good preparation as he focuses on his season goal of winning the Tour de France. ”I feel good, my form’s getting better and better,” he said. “I’ve still got a long way to go, I’ve got some hard work to do ahead of me.”