Middlesbrough's Phil West attacked in the closing stages to win the penultimate stage of the Newcastle Cheviot Tour of the Border four-day race.
But, with the top three contenders all finishing in the second main group, 40 seconds behind the leaders, there was no change in the overall positions and Manchester's Neil Swithenbank goes into today's final leg with a 26-second lead over London rider Rory Wyley.
Scunthorpe's Julian Gromett, who beat Swithenbank to win Saturday's stage, is more than two minutes back in third place.
West, riding for the VC St Raphael team, escaped from an 11-strong leading group at Middleton Bank, after 49 of the 60 miles yesterday, along with Yorkshire's Chris Young, last year's overall winner.
The Middlesbrough rider, who had been doing most of the driving, attacked Young as they approached Whalton, two and a half miles from the finish in Ogle, and crossed the line ten seconds clear.
Manchester's Olympic rider Nick Craig claimed third place ahead of former national road race champion Dave Cook (Middridge CRT).
With a stage win each, Kevin Dawson and Mark Lovatt were last night holding the first two places overall in the Ras Mumhan, the four-day Tour of Munster in Ireland.
Dawson, the British best all-rounder against the clock, goes into today's final stage at Killorglin with 26 seconds in hand over Lovatt, his Compensation Group RT teammate who won the previous week's Tour of the Reservoir at Edmundbyers.
Their nearest challenger for overall victory, Ireland's Brian Kenneally, is more than four minutes off the pace.
Scottish visitor Mark Atkinson made his journey worthwhile when he won Cleveland Coureurs' time trial over a sporting 17.5-mile course based on Swainby, near Stokesley.
The Team Velo Ecosse rider from Fort William covered the new course in 40min 17sec to finish with more than two minutes to spare over Stuart Whitell, of Stockton Wheelers.
Just 11 seconds separated Whitell and Middlesbrough's Mike Milen, the Northern Velo rider who has been living and racing in Belgium
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