The Tour of Britain is just a baby on the ProTour circuit, a mere eight years old, but given the rise to prominence on the circuit of the British riders - think Brad Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, Mark Cavendish here - and, of course, the quality of the riders racing it, the course is worthy of a mention.
It was only a week before the beginning of the Tour that Mark Cavendish announced that he would be riding his national tour for his ProTeam of HTC-Highroad. Such an announcement probably struck fear into the heart of his competitors, and with good reason - Cavendish took an easy win on Stage 1 from a bunch sprint with Aussie teammate and lead-out man Mark Renshaw second. Of course, the other perk of taking a victory on the first stage of a week-long tour is taking the leader's maillot as well, leaving Cav in the yellow at the end of the first day. He was lucky enough to keep it the next day as well, but through less clement circumstances. Due to dangerously strong winds along the coast generated by Hurricane Katia the stage was cancelled, and instead the riders took part in a ceremonial two laps around Kendal, the starting town of the stage.
Though the cancellation of stage two meant Mark Cavendish had to forego the honour of finishing his 'home stage' in Blackpool, the beautiful sunny weather of the following day meant the race was back on! Even with the still-windy conditions the riders were up to all the usual games, but thanks to the hard work and steep pace set by American team HTC-Highroad, no-one who left the peloton could stay away. This set the stage for Rabobank's Michael Matthews to springboard Lars Boom to a sprint win on the uphill finish, taking the yellow jersey from Cav in the process.
Day 4 was not much of a surprise, to be honest. If I say it was a bunch sprint at the end of a stage with mountains, who springs to mind? If your answer is the God of Thunder Thor Hushovd then yes, you would be right. After the three-man breakaway was reeled in with a few kilometres to go, Hushovd stormed home, with Lars Boom tight on his wheel. Though Boom missed out on a second stage victory, he increased his lead on the yellow jersey by 12 seconds over local boy Geraint Thomas, the home-country favourite.
Stage 5, not so expected. There are really only two names that jump to mind when you think of bunch sprints. But when it came to this bunch sprint, you'd be a day late if you said Hushovd, and wrong if you said the Manx Missile. The 12-man breakaway was reeled in a little way out, and when it came down to a bunch sprint, Mark Cavendish came second to his own lead-out man, Mark Renshaw. The rider famous as the world's best lead-out man was keeping mum afterwards about why him and not Cav.
Lars Boom must have been happy on Day 6. He seemed a little miffed about coming second to Thor Hushovd on the fourth stage to Caerphilly, despite the fact that Boom was, you know, leading the GC and all, but an outright victory in Wells probably helped improve his mood. The peloton can't have been impressed, though, after letting Boom slip through their fingers early on and jump ahead to the breakaway from which he was later able to springboard his win. The stage didn't go so well for home favourite Geraint Thomas, though, dropping down the GC leaderboard following a crash.
The theme of successful breakaways continued onto Stage 7, when virtual unknown, Lithuanian Gediminas Bagdonas, took the stage honours within the breakaway of six and Mark Cavendish led the peloton home in seventh place. Little change in the GC, but for Lars Boom, still in the leader's maillot, the game was still on for Day 8, the double-doozy combo of a short time trial followed by a 10-lap crit on the same roads. Boom showed he could hold his own in the time trial, coming in just five seconds behind winner Alex Dowsett, who was resplendent in his lovely new white skinsuit of the British time trial champion.
Day 4 was not much of a surprise, to be honest. If I say it was a bunch sprint at the end of a stage with mountains, who springs to mind? If your answer is the God of Thunder Thor Hushovd then yes, you would be right. After the three-man breakaway was reeled in with a few kilometres to go, Hushovd stormed home, with Lars Boom tight on his wheel. Though Boom missed out on a second stage victory, he increased his lead on the yellow jersey by 12 seconds over local boy Geraint Thomas, the home-country favourite.
Stage 5, not so expected. There are really only two names that jump to mind when you think of bunch sprints. But when it came to this bunch sprint, you'd be a day late if you said Hushovd, and wrong if you said the Manx Missile. The 12-man breakaway was reeled in a little way out, and when it came down to a bunch sprint, Mark Cavendish came second to his own lead-out man, Mark Renshaw. The rider famous as the world's best lead-out man was keeping mum afterwards about why him and not Cav.
Lars Boom must have been happy on Day 6. He seemed a little miffed about coming second to Thor Hushovd on the fourth stage to Caerphilly, despite the fact that Boom was, you know, leading the GC and all, but an outright victory in Wells probably helped improve his mood. The peloton can't have been impressed, though, after letting Boom slip through their fingers early on and jump ahead to the breakaway from which he was later able to springboard his win. The stage didn't go so well for home favourite Geraint Thomas, though, dropping down the GC leaderboard following a crash.
The theme of successful breakaways continued onto Stage 7, when virtual unknown, Lithuanian Gediminas Bagdonas, took the stage honours within the breakaway of six and Mark Cavendish led the peloton home in seventh place. Little change in the GC, but for Lars Boom, still in the leader's maillot, the game was still on for Day 8, the double-doozy combo of a short time trial followed by a 10-lap crit on the same roads. Boom showed he could hold his own in the time trial, coming in just five seconds behind winner Alex Dowsett, who was resplendent in his lovely new white skinsuit of the British time trial champion.
But of course Cav had to have the last word, especially in his national tour, and promptly pipped everyone else to the line to take the last stage victory, clearly wanting the matching set of first-and-last-stages for his trophy cabinet. Lars Boom played it safe and finished comfortably in the bunch, securing his nice yellow jersey as he enjoyed his first trip to Britain. Leopard Trek had two top-ten finishers, Australia's Michael Rogers took out 11th and Cav finished a respectable 13th, right behind Geraint Thomas in 12th.
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