by Anna Magrath | Sep 8, 2015
All images ©CyclingShorts.cc / www.chrismaher.co.uk
Team Sky’s Elia Viviani sprinted to his second win of the Aviva Tour of Britain, heading to victory at Floors Castle as Juan Jose Lobato moved into the race leader’s Aviva Yellow Jersey.
The Movistar Team rider took second on the road behind Viviani, and moved into the race lead after overnight leader Petr Vakoc crashed with just over three kilometres to go, losing ten minutes.
Having won Stage One in Wrexham on Sunday with no room for celebration, at Kelso the Italian had time to celebrate in style his victory outside the home of the Duke of Roxburghe.
Viviani kept his cool in a complicated finish after the peloton had caught a dangerous three man break consisting of Tyler Farrar, Marcin Bialoblocki and Matt Cronshaw with about five kilometres remaining.
As the peloton headed towards the twisty, fast finish into the grounds of Floors Castle, Lotto Soudal seemed to be dictating proceedings at the head of the bunch with Andre Greipel providing a lead out for Jens Debusschere.
Viviani, who had taken station just behind the Lotto Soudal train, was best positioned to take advantage. He accelerated smoothly and won comfortably, with his arms aloft, from Lobato with Matteo Trentin in third place.
Lobato’s lead at the top of the standings is ten seconds over MTN Qhubeka’s Edvald Boasson Hagen, with Floris Gerts of the BMC Racing Team another two seconds back. Team Sky’s Wout Poels lies fourth, while last year’s winner Dylan Van Baarle is fifth, just 13 seconds off the race lead.
Elia Viviani of Team Sky took his second stage win of the Aviva Tour of Britain on Stage 3. He talks to Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc and the assembled press at the finish.
“When the break at the end went out from 2-minutes 30 to 4-minutes 20 I did wonder if we would pull it back for a sprint finish,” admitted Elia Viviani afterwards. “The problem was that we needed to do the last climb very quickly and if we did that I was not sure if I would be able to stay in the first group of not.
“We decided to try and when your teammates work so hard – Peter Kennaugh, Ian Stannard, Andy Fenn – in the front you try your very best. Then at the end I saw that Mark Cavendish was not in the group after the crash and Andre Greipel was working for a teammate so thought perhaps it is a good sprint for me, it was a stage I can win.
“Andy Fenn positioned me perfectly and then I had to wait a little bit. After nearly 220-kilometres it is not the same as 170-kilometres, you don’t have the same legs. It was a very good test for the World and the climb at full gas with 20-kilometres to go was also very good.”
The win in the grounds of Floors Castle is Viviani’s second Aviva Tour of Britain victory at a Scottish castle, having also triumphed at Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries & Galloway in 2013.
In addition to becoming the third race leader in three days, Lobato also keeps the Chain Reactions Cycles Points Jersey.
Juan Jose Lobato talks to the media after taking control of the Yellow Jersey in the Aviva Tour of Britain 2015 on stage 3. In addition to becoming the third race leader in three days, Lobato also keeps the Chain Reactions Cycles Points Jersey.
“My main objective is still stage wins, if I keep the yellow jersey that will be a bonus. Our plan has been to race each stage day by day until the hilltop finish on Thursday and then we will have a look at how the GC is. The Tour of Britain is not an easy race to defend the jersey but we will have a better idea of the race by the end of Thursday stage.”
Lobato praised Britain’s Alex Dowsett, who is based in Essex, for the work on his behalf today ensuring he was in a good position to contest the finish but isn’t sure that local knowledge was the factor: “I’m not sure there is that much local advantage to be had with Alex Dowsett – he is from the south of the England, not the North, he doesn’t know these roads!”
Elsewhere there was another promising ride from young Welsh rider Owain Duoll, this time finishing sixth, which also takes him to sixth on the Aviva General Classification. That not only makes him the Premier Inn Best British RIder at present but with Lobato wearing the Aviva Yellow Jersey he also inherits the Chain Reaction Cycles Points Jersey to wear on Stage Four from Edinburgh to Blyth.
Like most of the riders in Team WIGGINS Doull’s main focus is the Team Pursuit on the track at Rio 2016 but he has always shown real class on the road and will be one of the riders to watch in the Under-23 road events in Richmond, Virginia, later this month where he will be contesting both the Road Race and the Time Trial at the World Championship.
Owain Doull chats after stage 3 of the Aviva Tour of Britain. Like most of the riders in Team WIGGINS Doull’s main focus is the Team Pursuit on the track at Rio 2016 but he has always shown real class on the road and will be one of the riders to watch in the Under-23 road events in Richmond, Virginia, later this month where he will be contesting both the Road Race and the Time Trial at the World Championship.
“I didn’t know quite what to expect coming into the race to be honest,” says Doull. “We had done quite a big block of training at altitude in Livigno so I was carrying quite a bit of fatigue and I thought I might be lacking a bit of top end speed.
“It’s been a bit surreal having Sir Bradley pulling on the front for me. It adds a bit of pressure but good pressure I guess. I’ve also been sharing a room with him so I’ve been thrown in at the deep end a bit. It’s a good laugh to be fair. Before this year I didn’t really know Brad so you have to pinch yourself sometimes because he was my hero growing up.
“We exist as team with the Rio team pursuit as our big aim but we do like to get stuck in and its nice in such a high profile race to show what we are all about”
In the YodelDirect Sprint competition Peter Williams leads Pim Ligthart an Aidis Kruopis by one point with the latter enjoying a profitable day having got into the early break, while Tom Stewart also retained his lead in the SKODA King of the Mountain competition. MTN Qhubeka’s Tyler Farrar claimed the Stage Three Rouleur Combativity Award.
For full results, please click here.
Stage Four sees the Aviva Tour of Britain visit Edinburgh for the first time in the history of the modern Tour, starting from Holyrood Park at 10am before heading through East Lothian and the Scottish Borders for the finish at Blyth in Northumberland.
by Anna Magrath | Sep 8, 2015
Owain Doull chats after stage 3 of the Aviva Tour of Britain. Like most of the riders in Team WIGGINS Doull’s main focus is the Team Pursuit on the track at Rio 2016 but he has always shown real class on the road and will be one of the riders to watch in the Under-23 road events in Richmond, Virginia, later this month where he will be contesting both the Road Race and the Time Trial at the World Championship.
Owain Doull chats after stage 3 of the Aviva Tour of Britain.
Like most of the riders in Team WIGGINS Doull’s main focus is the Team Pursuit on the track at Rio 2016 but he has always shown real class on the road and will be one of the riders to watch in the Under-23 road events in Richmond, Virginia, later this month where he will be contesting both the Road Race and the Time Trial at the World Championship.
by Chris Maher | Sep 8, 2015
Elia Viviani of Team Sky took his second stage win of the Aviva Tour of Britain on Stage 3. He talks to Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc and the assembled press at the finish.
Elia Viviani of Team Sky took his second stage win of the Aviva Tour of Britain on Stage 3. He talks to Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc and the assembled press at the finish.
by Anna Magrath | Sep 7, 2015
Images ©CyclingShorts.cc/ wwwchrismaher.co.uk
Czech National champion Petr Vakoc produced the ride of his life to hold off the peloton after a thrilling solo attack into Colne to take Stage Two of the Aviva Tour of Britain.
The economics student measured his effort well on the Pendle roads to take victory on Colne’s High Street by seven-seconds from Juan Jose Lobato, with former race winner Edvald Boasson Hagen a further two seconds back in third, as the finishing drag took its toll on the 45-rider chasing group.
Vakoc was well rewarded for his monumental effort, taking over the leader’s Aviva Yellow Jersey and earning a rapturous reception from the Colne locals who have a soft spot for individuals who don’t quit no matter how tough the going gets. This is after all the birthplace of Wallace Hartley, the leader of the band who famously ‘played on’ when the Titanic sank.
Just 23 and a fast emerging talent, plus a Gold medallist at the World Student Games, Vakoc took off with about 16-kilometres to go when an eight man break started to run out of steam and disintegrate on the rolling Lancashire roads.
The peloton gave chase with Lotto Soudal trying to manufacture a sprint opportunity for Andre Greipel but on tough and sometimes narrow roads they struggled to get on terms. Vakoc never seemed to pull ahead decisively but nor did the bunch every quite get on terms. It was classic hare and hound stuff and this time the hare won.
As he came into Colne, about 15 seconds to the good, the only thing that could derail the Czech Road Race Champion was a gruelling final kilometre drag but although you could see the pain and effort he seemed to get strong as he negotiated the ascent to win in style.
Juan Jose Lobato of Movistar chased him home seven second back with Edvald Boasson Hagen a further two seconds adrift, with the same order at the top of the Aviva General Classification.
Lobato’s second placed moved him into the lead of the Chain Reaction Cycles Points competition while Owain Doull of Team WIGGINS again rode well to take seventh place on the road and the Premier Inn Best British Rider lead.
Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc caught up with Petr Vakoc after taking the yellow jersey on stage 2 of the Aviva Tour of Britain 2015.
“It is a beautiful day and a big success for me, probably the biggest win of my career,” said Vakoc. “I didn’t really expect a ride like this morning but I woke up with good sensations. Normally I am not so good when there is a very hard start to a stage but today I felt good.
“Our tactics were to get in a break as it didn’t seem like it was going to be a sprint day. I managed to get in the eight main eight man break with 50-kilometres to go and we worked quite well but we weren’t going fast enough and the bunch was catching us so I tried my luck.
“I thought somebody would come with me but the next moment I was alone. There was a long way to go but I felt good and decided to press hard. It was a tough finish but that suited me well. I kept a little back and in the final 500m I imagined I was in a bunch sprit and rode like that. I was very tired at the end but it was worth it.”
Vakoc has suspended his studies for an Economics degree because his professional racing career has taken off so dramatically recently and he decided it was too much to combine the two.
His form this year had been impressive with a win in the Czech National Championships and a Bronze medal in the in the inaugural European Games road race, then recently overall victory in his national Tour. Last year, his first with Etixx Quick-Step, he recorded a stage win at the Tour of Poland and took time off from the professional peloton to win both the Road Race and Time Trial at the World University Championships at Jelenia Gora, also in Poland.
In the YodelDirect Sprint competition Peter Williams of ONE Pro Cycling Cycling reaped the benefit of aggressively getting in the early break and securing enough points to move one ahead of Pim Ligthart with erstwhile leader Conor Dunne a further point back.
It was the second day that Williams, who lives locally at Skipton and trains on the roads of the Ribble Valley and Pendle, animated the early break, at one point gaining over four minutes and briefly being joined at the head of the race by Alex Dowsett. For his efforts Williams, who won the YodelDirect Sprints Jersey in 2012, was also rewarded with the day’s Rouleur Combativity Award.
“I know the road and went out on the course last week and it’s a bit of an advantage,” said Williams afterwards. “You know where the tricky bits and dodgy corners are. It was always going to be a hard grippy day. I wasn’t looking for the jersey really, I was just trying to get in a good break but by doing that you can put yourself in contention.”
In the SKODA King of the Mountains classification it was another local rider, Preston’s Ian Bibby, who was the star of the day, leading the race over the first two climbs of the day – Nick o’Pendle and Bleara Moor – but it was Madison Genesis rider Tom Stewart who pulled on the jersey, after adding to his points haul from Stage One.
For full results and standings from Stage Two, please click here.
Stage Three sees the longest stage of the race so far at 216-kilometres, starting in Cumbria at Cockermouth at 10.15, before crossing the border north into Scotland, heading through Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders, before the finish at Floors Castle on the outskirts of Kelso.
The Aviva Tour of Britain is British Cycling’s premier road cycling event giving cycling fans the opportunity to see the world’s best teams and riders competing on their door step.
by Anna Magrath | Sep 7, 2015
Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc caught up with Petr Vakoc after taking the yellow jersey on stage 2 of the Aviva Tour of Britain 2015.
Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc caught up with Petr Vakoc after taking the yellow jersey on stage 2 of the Aviva Tour of Britain 2015.
by Chris Maher | Sep 6, 2015
All images ©CyclingShorts.cc / www.chrismaher.co.uk
Team Sky’s versatile Italian sprinter Elia Viviani timed his late challenge perfectly to inch past big guns Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel to win a nail biting opening stage of the Aviva Tour of Britain in Wrexham.
The sprint is about seconds, you wait a second and you lose.
Victory in Stage One puts Viviani into the race leader’s Aviva Yellow Jersey, with a four second lead, thanks to time bonuses, over Cavendish.
The win is Viviani’s second Aviva Tour of Britain stage win, and also the second occasion that he has won the opening stage of the race, having claimed victory at Drumlanrig Castle in 2013.
On a twisting, technical finish in Wrexham town centre the Etixx Quick-Step team caught the day’s breakaway inside the final two kilometres, setting things up perfectly for Cavendish who started his sprint with some conviction at about 200-metres out.
The big danger at that stage seemed to be old rival Greipel who had tracked Cavendish and opened up his own attack to the right of the road as they swept around the final bend at pace about 100-metres from the finish.
Cavendish had quickly glanced over his right shoulder, saw Greipel’s familiar red shirt and anticipated the German’s attack but at that precise moment Viviani roared through on the blindside to win by scarcely and inch.
The Italian rider wasn’t sure if he had won or not but Cavendish, a veteran of scores of close finishes, knew instantly that he had lost, thumping his handlebar in frustration.
Viviani’s performance was Team Sky’s just reward for an outstanding team performance aimed specifically at giving the Italian a sporting shot against two of the great modern day speed merchants.
After a strong four man break went early in the day it was Sky who took control of the chase with Andy Fenn burying himself for the cause along with timely contributions from his teammates and Etixx Quick-Step and Lotto Soudal.
Elia Viviani of Team Sky wins stage 1 of the Aviva Tour of Britain in a final sprint against Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel. Elia talks to CyclingShorts.cc and the assembled media after the race.
“It was difficult to control the break but we worked all day for that finish,” said Viviani who is already a stage winner at the Giro and Eneco Tour this season. “Andy Fenn did some fantastic work he was so strong today, I think he is in very good condition. Ben Swift also took some perfect decisions, deciding when we work, when to close the gap.
“With 100-metres to go I was thinking it was too late but Greipel came in between the middle of me and Cav. Then Cav went in the middle of the road I saw a little space on the left and I sprinted hard. It was very close. I didn’t know if I had won but when Cav shouted “oh no” that’s when I understood. The sprint is about seconds, you wait a second and you lose.”
Second placed Cavendish, the Premier Inn Best British Rider, was gracious in defeat: “I was I was super nervous actually because the guys who were staying round this way re-conned it yesterday and said it was sketchy. The last sharp left-hander it was a bit technical, the wind was blowing down through the buildings there, in the last straight, and I knew I had to lay off Mark Renshaw. It was going to be uphill, it was going to be a slog, and actually when I kicked off Mark I kicked really well.
“The line was just not coming quick enough. I looked over, could sense Greipel there and I think I sensed too much of Greipel. If I’d kept the left hand shut maybe I would have got it, but I was too concerned with the right and Elia came through on the line. Actually I’m pretty happy. I’m super happy with the team but obviously it’s disappointing not to win.
“This is the best race to prepare for the Worlds; it’s hard, it’s heavy roads, long stages. People come here to prepare for the worlds now. And I just hope Mick and the organisers keep it like this, and don’t make it crazy, stupid hard. I like to race in front of the home fans. And I do like to win but unfortunately that didn’t happen today.”
The sprint drama at the end of the day came after one of the most determined of breaks featuring some familiar names from Britain’s top domestic teams who between them drove it all the way into Wrexham where they were only caught by the charging peloton with just over one kilometre to go.
Kristian House of JLT Condor presented by Mavic, Tom Stewart of Madison Genesis and Peter Williams of ONE Pro Cycling usually manage to leave their imprint on the Aviva Tour of Britain and on this occasion were joined by Conor Dunne of An Post Chain Reaction.
Together they comprised the almost perfect break riding strongly as a quartet for the best part of 170-kilometres from Anglesey, over the Menai Bridge and through Snowdonia and the six counties of North Wales, at one stage running up a nine-minute lead.
The experienced House jumped to jump away on the final climb to take the SKODA King of the Mountains jersey while Dunne mopped up enough sprint points to earn the YodelDirect Sprint jerseys
Kristian House takes the King of the Mountains Jersey at the end of Stage one of the 2015 Aviva Tour of Britain. Kristian talks to Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc and the assembled press after the stage.
“We worked well and although I couldn’t recall all of the climbs from our recce but I did remember the final one which is why I hit out when I did and took a long one,” says House who won the SKODA King of the Mountains jersey overall in 2012 is riding his tenth Aviva Tour of Britain.
“When the break went back up from a minute to 1-minute 24 with 10km to go for a minute we thought this might actually work – funnily enough we were going through a town called Hope at the time! In my head though it was always going to come back.
“This race has always been important to the domestic teams. Going back to my first start in 2005, it was more important to us than the bigger teams. That’s levelled out now – people look at it is preparation for the worlds. This is our worlds, this and the national championships; we can show on home turf what we’re capable of.”
ONE Pro Cycling’s Peter Williams earned himself the Rouleur Combativity Award for Stage One, while the opening day victory helped Viviani also take the Chain Reaction Cycles Points Jersey.
For full results and standings, please click here.
Stage Two on Monday 7 September sees the race head to the Lancashire hills, racing from Ribble Valley to Pendle over 160-kilometres of undulating roads between Clitheroe and Colne. The stage starts from the centre of Clitheroe at 11:15am, with live coverage on ITV4 from 1pm. You can find a video preview of the Stage Two route here.
