Serge Pauwels has paid his dues in his wait for a first professional win so it was only fitting the Belgian was rewarded for a daring long-range attack with both stage and overall victory at the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire.

The 33-year-old Belgian rider has been one of the nearly men of the peloton, agonizingly finishing second on the Mont Ventoux at last year’s Tour de France, just two seconds behind compatriot Thomas de Gendt.

But he finally got his reward on stage three in Fox Valley, near Sheffield, attacking from more than 10km out and holding on with the help of Dimension Data teammate, and roommate for the week, Omar Fraile in a one-two for the team.

As a result he was able to raise his hands aloft in celebration after clinching the toughest stage in the race’s history, and is already targeting more success.

“It feels a bit strange because it’s been the first time I can raise my hands,” said Pauwels.

“I’ve been quite close, for example last year on the Mont Ventoux and the Dauphiné, I’ve been second, third, fourth, everything except for winning and now I have got two at the same time so it’s even more special.

“I’ve been always fighting for it and I think these days in cycling it’s not a bad thing to get older, you see (Alejandro) Valverde and the other riders performing still very well at a higher age.

“It’s also the case with me and I’ve always tried to be professional through my career and I still love my sport a lot. Maybe this is the start of more victories. That’s what they say.

“The first thing I saw [when Omar Fraile caught up] was his front wheel, I recognized it because it’s the same wheel I’m riding on. The first thing I thought was the whole group was there but then he took over and said let’s go.

“He said it’s for you or something like that. I think it’s a great gift from him to give me the victory, although I think I also deserved it. But he’s a great rider and a great guy. I was rooming with him this week, he’s a great guy.

“I was expecting a harder race from the start but because of the headwind all day, the peloton was still pretty much together towards the final circuit. It made me a bit nervous because I’m not really an explosive rider so I wanted a hard race all day. I was not thinking I could finish it off but I chose my right moment to go.”

Pauwels and Fraile completed a one-two on both the stage and the overall, with Frenchman Jonathan Hivert in third, while Madison Genesis’ Matthew Holmes was the top Brit in fifth.

And after the success of this year’s race – with roadside crowds topping one million – Welcome to Yorkshire CEO Sir Gary Verity has set his sights on expanding the race for the 2018 edition.

He added: “It takes top place on the podium of the three we have done. It’s the biggest crowds we have had so far.

“They were the same size crowds we had for the Grand Départ, you saw that as you were going round, huge crowds in town after town after town.

“The race continues to grow and our ambition is to get an extra day for the race, to do four days riding, which means we can do two relatively flat stages and two hilly stages and then we can do two days for the women as well.

“That means we can attract the best sprinters and the best climbers. We’re not finished with our innovations to continue to develop the race.”

Yorkshire Bank is an Official Partner of the Tour de Yorkshire and the ground-breaking Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries initiative. Visit www.ybonline.co.uk/tdy