Tour of Britain Race Report – Stage 3: Michael Albasini wins to take race lead

By Peter Hodges

(no pictures today – will add once I receive them)

Team HTC – Columbia took their second stage win of The Tour of Britain, but in dramatically different style to Andre Greipel’s win in Blackpool on Saturday, as Michael Albasini powered to victory, escaping on the fearsome Constitution Hill to win alone in Swansea.

Victory, by eight seconds over Ian Bibby and Stijn Neirynck, moves Albasini into the Yellow Jersey presented by Bikeability, with a 1 minute 26 second lead over erstwhile leader Greg Henderson, who came home 13th to see his race lead evaporate.

Coming on the back of a tough day in the Staffordshire Moorlands, the complexion of The Tour was once again changed by a tough day down through the Brecon Beacons National Park, with the poor weather conditions once again playing a part in the action.

The action was once again fast paced from the start, with lots of attacks going in early, though none managed to gain an advantage over 15 seconds.

HTC – Columbia were a constant presence towards the front of the bunch, stringing the peloton and pilling on the pressure as the first hour covered an impressive 29 miles of Welsh roads.

Not long later and the race shaping break was instigated as Cameron Meyer and Pim Ligthart attacked after 30 miles of racing. In pursuit Simon Richardson, Mark McNally and Elia Favili escaped the peloton, with a further four riders including Bibby and Neirynck also giving chase.

Once the junction was made, the nine riders began working very well together, building a three and a half minute lead by 40 miles. The break was still together at the foot of Black Mountain, but with HTC setting the pace on the front of the peloton, Meyer struck out a lone, breaking clear of his companions to begin a long solo ride.

With fog and heavy rain making for murky conditions on the long climb, HTC – Columbia began to pile on the pressure, fracturing the field into several groups, the key of these being two groups of approximately twenty and ten riders.

At the summit Meyer’s lead over the remainder of the break stood at 1 minute 40 seconds, with a group of twenty chasers a further minute back, and another group of ten not far behind.

With the two large groups, including Yellow Jersey Henderson, coming together on the descent, the day’s crucial moment came as Albasini and Tony Martin broke off the front of the bunch, as gaps began to appear between wheels on the slippery roads. The German, who had featured in the Stage Two break on Sunday, put in several big turns, helping Albasini bridge across the gap.

Once ahead the HTC – Columbia duo joined up with the remnants of the breakaway and began to gradually ride down Meyer on the approach to Swansea, with Martin again putting in a lot of work on the front. With twenty kilometres remaining the Garmin rider had 50 seconds over his pursuers, but the climb of Black Mountain had taken its toll and the Australian was caught on the outskirts of the city, but still survived to take fourth on the stage.

Onto the finishing circuit in Swansea and the leaders came through the line together, but on the ascent of Constitution Hill Albasini surged forward from the front, pulling clear to negotiate the rest of the lap alone, crossing the line arms aloft eight second ahead of the chasing Bibby and Neirynck.

With Bibby in second it was also a good day for the British riders and teams, as McNally, Richardson and Endura’s Jack Bauer also finished in the top ten. Other winners on the day were Vacansoleil duo Borut Bozic and Johnny Hoogerland, who came home tenth and eleventh, making up time on Henderson.

Following in the wheel tracks of the first Tour of Britain stage wins for German and Kiwi riders, Albasini added the first win in the race for a Swiss rider.

“From the start I felt really good,” said the 29-year-old. “Our tactic was to make the race fast and also hard, so that we could maybe try something on the longer climb. For the first 50 kilometres there was just attacking and attacking, so on Black Mountain my team made good pace and then together with the riders from Vacansoleil we rode really hard up there.

“It was a small group at the top, and then on the downhill it was wet and fast. Tony Martin and I arrived full gas, so we made a small gap and went away. Tony did a really really big job, it was just me and him to ride, so it was really hard. In the last ten kilometres I did maybe only two turns, the rest was always Tony pulling so I could recover a little bit for the steep climb and cobblestones.”

Albasini, whose previous biggest win was the Tour of Austria in 2009, is confident of his chances of being able to hold onto the Yellow Jersey.

“Of course! It’s now a big goal to bring the jersey to London. If you look today at the race you saw a really strong HTC – Columbia team, we were always attacking and even on the climb the sprinters were making tempo. With teammates like Martin, (Marco) Pinotti, (Bert) Grabsch, (Andre) Greipel and Mark Renshaw I’m sure we can do it.”

Impressing yet again was Australian Richie Porte, who took seventh on the stage as well as holding onto the King of the Mountains and Sprints jerseys.

“I think I’m climbing as one of the strongest in the race,” said Porte. “For me I’m more interested in the classification, but obviously it’s nice to have a jersey, so we’ll defend them as much as we can.

“I’ve got such a good team here, I’ve got a good Director Sportif in Torsten Schmidt, so I’m sure he’s got it all planned.”

Stage Four sees The Tour of Britain tackle the same route as The Prostate Cancer Charity South West Tour Ride between Minehead and Teignmouth, a route widely expected to be the hardest stage of the entire race. Along the way riders will tackle the fearsome Peak Hill out of a Sidmouth, a steep coastal climb that takes The Tour along the edge of Lyme Bay.

The Tour of Britain is proud to be partnered with The Prostate Cancer Charity. Don’t forget this September your chance to follow in the wheel tracks of the professionals and ride three stages from The Tour of Britain. Go to www.tourride.co.uk to find out more!

Stage Three Results

1) Michael Albasini Team       HTC – Columbia                                 3:40:37

2) Ian Bibby                            Motorpoint – Marshalls Pasta             @ 08”

3) Stijn Neirynck                     Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator        @ same time

Honda Combativity Award Winner: Cameron Meyer, Garmin – Transitions Cycling Team

General Classification standings (after three stages)

1) Michael Albasini                 Team HTC – Columbia                       3:40:37

2) Greg Henderson                 Sky Professional Cycling Team          @ 1:28

3) Richie Porte                        Team Saxo Bank                                 @ 1:28

The Prostate Cancer Charity Points Jersey standings (after three stages)

1) Greg Henderson                 Sky Professional Cycling Team         31 points

2) Michael Albasini                 Team HTC – Columbia                       30 points

3) Andre Greipel                     Team HTC – Columbia                       15 points

The King of the Mountains Jersey standings (after three stages)

1) Richie Porte                        Team Saxo Bank                                 36 points

2) Johnny Hoogerland            Vacansoleil Pro Cycling                      26 points

3) Wout Poels                         Vacansoleil Pro Cycling                      20 points

The Sprints Jersey standings (after three stages)

1) Richie Porte                        Team Saxo Bank                                 15 points

2) Michal Golas                       Vacansoleil Pro Cycling                      8 points

3) Heinrich Haussler               Cervelo Test Team                              8 points

Tour of Britain Race Report – Stage 2: Henderson heads the selection, as The Tour gets tough

Greg Henderson taking the win on stage 2 of The Tour of Britain (image courtesy of The Tour of Britain)

By Peter Hodges

Greg Henderson wins in Stoke-on-Trent to move into the Yellow Jersey

Team Sky picked up their first win of The Tour of Britain, as Greg Henderson sprinted to victory on the tough uphill finish in Stoke-on-Trent, as the day’s racing was shaped by an 18 rider break that shook up the overall standings.

Henderson headed home breakaway companions Michael Albasini and Heinrich Haussler, to move into the Yellow Jersey presented by Bikeability, as well as taking early control of The Prostate Cancer Charity Points Jersey thanks to his third placed finish on Saturday’s stage.

A frantic start to the 100 mile stage, that helped to celebrate the centenary of Stoke-on-Trent, saw a number of repeated attacks going away from the peloton, only to be brought back by the speeding bunch as it passed through the Staffordshire countryside.

The Tour of Britain peloton making their way through the beautiful Staffordshire Moorlands (image courtesy of The Tour of Britain)

Among the teams most active in trying to put riders up the road were AN Post and Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator, but despite several small groups pulling away before being reeled in, neither team had a rider in the break when it eventually formed after around ten kilometres of racing.

With the peloton chasing hard to counter a two-rider move, the front group split leaving a high-quality group out in front, including Henderson, Albasini and Haussler, plus the likes of Sprints Jersey holder Richie Porte, Welshman Rob Partridge, Vacansoleil duo Borut Bozic and Michal Golas and most crucially for the eventual winner, his Sky teammates Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas.

The peloton was always going to find it hard to bring back such a strong break, and so it proved as the gap immediately went out to around the 40 second mark as Endura’s Iker Camano tried to bridge across.

The Spaniard’s attempt failed, but after 29 kilometres of racing and heading towards Millwich the gap was down to just 22 seconds, persuading Darren Lapthorne and Johnny Hoogerland to set off in pursuit.

The pair soon caught Jaroslav Marycz who was dropped from the front bunch, but Rapha – Condor – Sharp’s Australian couldn’t hold the wheel of the Dutchman, and found himself heading back to the peloton after around forty kilometres of racing.

Hoogerland continued alone, with his impressive solo ride paying off as he made contact with the leading riders, while the peloton was headed by the Sigma Sport – Specialized team.

With the third Vacansoleil rider now at the front the gap stretched out, particularly after Thomas drove hard on the opening King of the Mountains climb at Ramshorn, sending the gap up to the three and a half minute mark.

Behind AN Post and Topsport Vlaanderen chased, but to no avail as the gap soared past six minutes by the time the peloton was negotiating the huge crowds in the village of Longnor in the Peak District National Park.

With the 18 strong rider group working well together they extended their lead to just shy of eight minutes by the top of the Hollinsclough Moor King of the Mountains climb, as the wind on the exposed tops near to Flash seemed to hamper the chase of the peloton, who by this time realised they were racing for the minor placings.

Stage One escapee Porte then tried his hand alone from the group, jumping away on the road to Gun Hill and pulling out a 16 second lead.  Behind a chasing group consisting of Albasini, Wiggins, Hoogerland, Patrik Sinkewitz, Travis Meyer, Dan Craven and Koen de Kort formed, with Porte being caught on the descent to Leek and the front group reforming.  Sinkewitz was next to try his hand off the front, but the ISD rider’s advantage was short lived.

Heading in the opposite direction from the front group were ENECO Tour winner Tony Martin and Federico Canuti, both of whom were dropped as the pace rose after Leek.

At the front Team Sky began driving, sensing the potential to set Henderson up for the win, so when Haussler and Golas escaped nearing Stoke-on-Trent and built a 13 second lead, it fell to Wiggins and Thomas to ride the duo down, with both riders pulling massive turns before dropping off the back to finish 1 minute 16 seconds and 1 minute 48 seconds down respectively at the finish on Albion Street.

With Haussler and Golas caught, it set things up for an exciting 13 rider sprint up the 500 metre drag to the line, with New Zealander Henderson heading home Albasini, and preventing the HTC – Columbia team from taking a third successive victory in the city of Stoke-on-Trent.

More crucially the time bonus on the line, along with that gained in Blackpool, helped Henderson into yellow, with a 14 second lead over the second placed Swiss rider.  In each of the previous three Tours of Britain, such a lead has proved enough to win the race overall, but with a trio of tougher stages to come and six days of the race still to go, Henderson will be looking over his shoulder at the twelve riders placed within 23 seconds of his race lead.

Winner of the Honda Combativity Award for his impressive ride across to the break Johnny Hoogerland certainly believes the Sky man’s lead isn’t insurmountable, saying at the post-stage press conference, “I think it’s very difficult for Henderson to keep the jersey.  He is good on the hills, but we are getting a few hilly stages, so I think it is difficult for him.

“We are not satisfied with sixth place on the General Classification, so we are going to try and win the Overall.  We had three in the first group and we have Wout (Poels) and (Matteo) Carrara in the peloton, but they are also in very good condition, so I think we can make it pretty hard for Sky.”

The Dutchman was also full of praise for the route, saying, “It was not what I expected.  I spoke to Daniel Martin yesterday and he said tomorrow is not a heavy stage, and then I just wanted to take it easy until stages four and five, as I know these are the heavy stages of The Tour of Britain.

“I’ve never been to England before, I was only one night in Heathrow, but that’s all.  The mountains are steep; it’s totally different to Belgium or France.  It’s steep, a little bit flat, steep and a lot of corners.  It’s a beautiful landscape.  Today it was perfect with like twenty riders, but with the whole peloton and then on the top of the climbs with a little bit of wind from the side it’s difficult.”

Hoogerland also revealed his future motivation for the rest of the race was not just one, but two snubs he, and his team had received.

“Not just for the Vuelta a Espana, but also for the World Championship.  I also really wanted to do the World Championship but they passed me by, so I just want to show that I have to be there.  I am always good in September and October, so it is the same this year.

“Maybe when someone is injured I can go, but maybe I am not really motivated anymore for doing that race, I just want to do a very good Tour of Britain.”

Stage Three sees The Tour of Britain return to Wales for the first time since 2004, as The Tour races through mid-Wales from Newtown to Swansea, via the King of the Mountains climb of Black Mountain.  Also on the route is Constitution Hill in Swansea, a brutal one-in-three cobbled climb that features in the final two kilometres, and will surely see the General Classification of The Tour of Britain shaken up once again.

Stage 2 podium presentation: Johnny Hoogerland (left), Richie Porter (middle), Greg Henderson (right) (image courtesy of The Tour of Britain)

Stage Two Results

1) Greg Henderson            Sky Professional Cycling Team  3:59:52

2) Michael Albasini            Team HTC – Columbia               @ same time

3) Heinrich Haussler           Cervelo Test Team                     @ same time

Honda Combativity Award Winner: Johnny Hoogerland, Vacansoleil Professional Cycling Team

General Classification standings (after two stages)

1) Greg Henderson            Sky Professional Cycling Team              7:16:23

2) Michael Albasini            Team HTC – Columbia                           @ 14”

3) Heinrich Haussler           Cervelo Test Team                                 @ same time

The Prostate Cancer Charity Points Jersey standings (after two stages)

1) Greg Henderson            Sky Professional Cycling Team              28 points

2) Andre Greipel                Team HTC – Columbia                           15 points

3) Michael Albasini            Team HTC – Columbia                           15 points

The King of the Mountains Jersey standings (after two stages)

1) Richie Porte                  Team Saxo Bank                                   35 points

2) Johnny Hoogerland       Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team                24 points

3) Wout Poels                   Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team                16 points

The Sprints Jersey standings (after two stages)

1) Richie Porte                  Team Saxo Bank                                   15 points

2) Michal Golas                 Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team                8 points

3) Koen De Kort                Skil – Shimano                                      8 points

The Tour of Britain is proud to be partnered with The Prostate Cancer Charity.  Don’t forget this September your chance to follow in the wheel tracks of the professionals and ride three stages from The Tour of Britain.  Go to www.tourride.co.uk to find out more!

The Great Tour Recce

The Great Tour route map

Late on Friday 7 May myself and a colleague from work, Kathryn and her boyfriend Gavin, made our way down from Weybridge in Surrey to Seaton in Devon.

Now Seaton is a small seaside town on the South West coastline of Devon England. It has also been described as the gateway to the 95-mile Jurassic Coast of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Coastline.

However, the reason for our drive down to Seaton was  so that we could do a recce of the first two stages of The Great Tour. Not on our own of course, but with a group from our office that have put together this challenging event.

So what is The Great Tour? Well, in short, it’s a circumnavigation of the outer edge of the UK coastline by bicycle.

The Great Tour itself will take place on 3 July when a group of cyclists drawn from the world of sport, celebrity, charity, politics, science and the arts will gather in Seaton to embark on one of Britain’s last great sporting challenges. Keeping the sea to their right for 64 days, the riders will never lose the sight, smell or sound of the sea during their epic 6600km pedal for charity.

The ride will be hosted by well known athletes who will be joined by a wide variety of guests and charity riders to create a colourful and inspirational sporting celebration of the British coastline.

The 2010 event will be the inaugural Great Tour, which will become an annual charity bike ride. This is most probably the most important thing to remember about the event. Its purpose is to help raise money for a charity of your choice. You take on an incredible challenge while helping to raise money for a good cause.

So this ride we embarked upon took in the first two stages of The Great Tour. Stage 1 saw us riding from Seaton to Swanage. Expected total ride distance is 128km with 2483m of ascent.

Stage two took us from Swanage to Ryde with an expected total ride distance of 114km and 1236m of ascent.

On Saturday 8 May after a great fry up breakfast at our guest house, we made our way to the Seaton sea front to await the rest of our team that were going to join us on this ride. Also joining us on the ride was Alistair Cope, a Devon local who would guide us on our way. Alistair is also one of the main guides on The Great Tour itself and is himself raising money for The Prostate Cancer Charity while taking on this 64 day challenge.

Now the weather wasn’t great. It was not too cold, but it was damp and there was intermittent drizzle about. Not something I was looking forward to.

Here  are some pictures, taken by Gavin(or Kathryn) of our ride over the two days:

Gavin Morton (our photograher) and myself outside our guest house in Seaton

Getting the bikes and ourselves ready before we set off

Discussing the road ahead

The group before our depart on stage 1 of The Great Tour

On our way out of Seaton

Wating for the group to catch up after our first climb

Gavin joining us

Road bikes to continue left on the road. Hybrids to go straight along onto the gravel roads

Appreciating why they call it the jurrasic coastline

Loving the climb, but I really do need a new bike

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Alistair going up one the many many climbs on this stage

Graeme and Kevin, Great Tour route leaders

Graeme and Kevin

Graeme and Kevin with Mick Bennett, former Olympic medallist

Taking in the scenery

Enjoying myself

I'm lovin it!

The scenery is just beautiful

Riding with Alistair and admiring how the climb just keeps going up

Taking a mini break in one of the many villages along the way

For any would be bike sponsor - Your bike could be in the picture instead of the Trek. Think about it!

We visited some interesting roads and places

Spectacular views once again

I love this picture

Feeling the pain

Graeme, Kevin and myself glad that we're coming to the end of stage 1

Packing the cars before makin our way to our local accommodation

Now we didn’t quite make the full stage. After all the stops and starts, we managed only to get to Weymouth, just over half the distance we were expecting to do for that day. But that was the whole purpose of the recce – to find out what challenges could stand in  our way when the main event takes place.

It’s at this point where I have to say that The Great Tour is not the ideal challenge to take on with a road bike. The best bike for this challenge is a hybrid. With a relaxed frame geometry and slick MTB tyres makes it easier to ride over the varying terrain than what a road bike could handle. I did manage it on my road bike, but my tyres did take a huge hammering.

But more importantly, the hybrid offers you the aditional gears you would need to climb over some of the steep sections of this ride. I have to be honest and say that I did run out of gears and some of the road surfaces were so wet that I wasn’t able to stand going up the climbs. This really did test the strength in my legs and arms. However, the road bike was great for some of the descents as we reached up to 80km/h without pedalling. Not for the feint-hearted!

Oh, before I forget, stage 1 is the hardest stage of the entire Great Tour.

Stage 2: Swanage to Ryde

After a good night’s rest, we all made our way into Swanage for our early morning start of 8:00am. Not before getting in a good breakfast though.

Our early morning breakfast stop

Running through the details of the route

Our group photo

Maing our way along the Swanage coastline

A group of men on their way to Studland - haha!

Going to Foreland (or Handfast) Point

The Foreland (or Handfast) Point

Enjoying my way along Newto Heath to catch the short ferry to Sandbanks

On the ferry to Sandbanks

Doing our bit for Mulebar - well, trying to at least

Felt Bicycles taking full advantage of the sponsorship areas I posses. Just need to get a bike from them next 🙂

Making our way along the Bournemouth coastline

The group

and in black & white

Stopping for pies in Lymington

Lymington. Well, that’s as far as I got to on day two of the ride with another 60+ km’s in the bag.  It was at this point that I joined Kathryn and Gavin as they made their way back home to Surrey. From Lymington the rest of the group made their way onto the Isle of Wight to complete the rest of their journey for stage two.

From speaking to guys afterwards, I understand that it was quite hilly too once on the Isle of Wight. So I’m glad I didn’t go the whole way as my legs were competely knackered by the time I made it home that afternoon.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed myself over the two days we were out there. The riding was great, the scenery spectacular and the company was excellent.

In summary, The Great Tour offers 64 days of riding, 6600 km’s, 87,500m of ascent and 500 hours in the saddle. So if you feel like taking up a new challenge and want to see the beautiful coastline that the UK offers, then why not sign up for The Great Tour.

*All photographs thanks to Gavin Morton

UK Masters Track Champs – 4-6 July

Today sees the start of the 2008 UK National Masters Track Championships. The event is taking place at its new location in Wales at the Newport Velodrome.

The race programme for this year includes:

Friday 4th July
– Sprint
– CWD Flying 200m TT
– Open Enduro Omnium (Madison/Scratch/Devil)

Saturday 5th July
– Time Trial
– Scratch Race
– CWD Time Trial
– Open Derny Paced Race
– Open Sprinters Omnium (200m TT/Sprint/Kierin)

Sunday 6th July
– Pursuit
– CWD Pursuit
– Points Race

So, if you don’t feel like sitting glued to the TV all weekend watching the Tour de France and you have a craving to watch some good cycling live, then make your way over to South Wales and support the guys and gals in their moments of glory.

Interestingly, looking at the age categories I would now be considered a Master (A-cat). Not sure whether to feel good about being classified a Master at such a tender young age 🙂