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Approaches back of peloton, cycling behind (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nears

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'approaches' is the definition.
(I know this)

'back of peloton cycling behind' is the wordplay.
'back of' says to take the final letters.
'cycling behind' becomes 'ears' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The final letter of 'peloton' is 'n'.
'n'+'ears'='NEARS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for nears that I've seen before include "Draws closer to" , "Bears down" , "Gets closer" , "Moves towards" , "Uses snare to get closer" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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