Wellens Wins Tour of Britain as Wiggins' Son Breaks Top Ten
Tim Wellens of UAE Team Emirates-XRG won the 2026 Lloyds Tour of Britain on 6 September, sealing overall victory on the final stage after leading the race since the hills of North Yorkshire two days earlier.
The Belgian started the last stage in Earlston, Scotland, with a 21-second cushion over Britain's Lewis Askey. By the finish, he had stretched that margin to 42 seconds, securing the overall title with room to spare. Askey, riding on home roads, held on for second overall.
Wellens had taken command on the fourth stage, a 165-kilometre leg from Helmsley to Leyburn through the Yorkshire Dales. Dutch rider Cees Bol won the stage, but Wellens' attacking ride to second place pulled him into the race leader's jersey — the overall standings that determine the final winner — and he never relinquished it.
The final stage belonged to Nils Politt. Wellens' German teammate at UAE Emirates-XRG surged clear from a leading group that included 21-year-old Ben Wiggins, son of 2012 Tour de France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins, with less than 10 kilometres remaining to take the stage win. Politt's victory meant UAE Emirates-XRG closed the race with both the overall title and the final stage.
Wiggins finished tenth overall, a notable result for a rider still early in his professional career. His presence in the leading group on the final stage put him in the thick of the action rather than simply riding it out behind.
The race began under solemn circumstances. The peloton — the main pack of riders — paid tribute to British cyclist Fin Tarling, who died competing in the Volta a Portugal in August 2026. The sport's governing body, the UCI, used the moment to stress the urgent need for a dedicated safety system enabling real-time location tracking of riders and vehicles at all professional road cycling events, starting with the top-tier UCI WorldTour and UCI Women's WorldTour.
UAE Emirates-XRG fielded a six-rider squad for the five-day race across England and Scotland, including Wellens, Politt, Benoît Cosnefroy and Florian Vermeersch. The squad's strength in depth showed: when Wellens needed support on the Yorkshire climbs, he had teammates to call on, and when the overall lead was secure, Politt was free to chase the stage.
Wellens, a seasoned classics rider who won the Renewi Tour overall in 2024, added another stage-race title to his palmarès — a rider's record of career wins. His move into the leader's jersey on stage four was the race's decisive moment, and neither Askey nor the rest could close the gap over the remaining stages.
For British fans, Askey's second place and Wiggins' top-ten finish gave home interest right through to the line. For Wellens, the Tour of Britain trophy caps a strong week of controlled, attacking racing.
