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Stage 8 - 2010 Tour of Britain
September 11-18; UCI 2.1 | Home Page for News & Reports
Stage 8: London (52 miles, Sept 18) | Full Results
Report Luke Webber | Pictures & interviews Larry Hickmott
HTC-Colombia had a double reason to celebrate on the Tour Of Britain's final stage; Andre Greipel leading the sprint train across the line and Michael Albasini clinching the race win following eight savage stages of racing across the UK.
For the HTC-Colombia team, the Tour resulted in overall victory and four stage wins, starting on day one in Blackpool. And while the acquisition and retention of the yellow jersey became the focus at the Tours midpoint, Greipel could focus on his forte in the final three days, concluding with two stage wins.
Stage 8 exclusive photo slideshow. Thanks to Welsh NEG Pilot Graham Harper for delivering British Cycling's photographer and correspondant Larry Hickmott across every mile of the 2010 Tour of Britain.
HOW THE STAGE UNFOLDED
Following a hectic seven days of racing across the UK, riders aligned for the final time in London for the shortest stage of the 2010 Tour Of Britain.
A flat circuit race lasting little over fifty miles, it was almost inconceivable a break would make it away - even less so that Michael Albasini would miss out on the overall win. With a lead of over one minute, the final stage would serve as a procession for those riders on the GC, and an end of season showcase for those sprinters still looking to pen a 2011 contract.
Former GB Academy rider and Irish Road Race champion, Matt Brammeier of An Post, had a real good dig at the start and was also part of a break in the finale. He was given the Combativity award for his efforts.
Despite a lacklustre showing at the Tour in terms of results, Team Sky immediately sought to control the head of the race alongside HTC-Colombia, setting up Greg Henderson to take both intermediate sprints.
These were interrupted by a small breakaway group of four moving clear, containing Koen de Kort, Christian Meier, Philip Lavery and Dale Appleby. A maximum lead of nineteen seconds never really threatened however, and the status quo of the peloton was soon resumed.
Following Henderson's second sprint win, Vaconsoleil's Michael Golas was confirmed as the sprints jersey winner - the team's second classification win after Jonny Hoogerland secured the King of the Mountains title yesterday.
Team Sky's Greg Henderson is straight onto the radio after winning a sprint to gain valuable seconds to nick 3rd spot in the race off Australian Richie Porte (Saxo Bank).
This encouraged an attack from Jeremy Hunt, who was joined by Matt Brammeier, Wouter Sybrandy, Tom Barras and Pete Williams. Holding out until the final lap with thirty seconds lead, the peloton was enthusiastic for the sprint and bought back the deficit before the line.
And in much the same fashion as Mark Cavendish received a world-class leadout in the Tour de France, Andre Greipel was provided with the perfect opportunity to win - and duly took it, to round out a great week for the HTC-Colombia team.
Stage Result (Full Results):
1 Andre Greipel Team HTC-Columbia 1:57:07
2 Lucas Sebastien Haedo Team Saxo Bank st
3 Roger Hammond Cervelo Test Team st
4 Greg Henderson Sky Pro Cycling Team st
5 Borut Bozic Vacansoleil Pro Cycling st
6 Robert Wagner Skil-Shimano st
7 Russell Downing Sky Pro Cycling Team st
8 Edward Clancy Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta st
9 Marco Frapporti Colnago-CSF Inox st
10 Zak Dempster Rapha-Condor-Sharp st
FINAL OVERALL
1 Michael Albasini Team HTC-Columbia 29:23:47
2 Borut Bozic Vacansoleil Pro Cycling at 1:05
3 Greg Henderson Sky Pro Cycling Team at 1:10
4 Richie Porte Team Saxo Bank at 1:13
5 Johnny Hoogerland Vacansoleil Pro Cycling at 1:32
6 Patrick Sinkewitz ISD-Neri Giambenini at 2:12
7 Christian Meier Garmin-Transitions at 2:30
8 Robert Partridge Endura Racing at 2:32
9 Koen De Kort Skil-Shimano at 2:35
10 Marco Frapporti Colnago-CSF Inox at 3:31
With only seconds between Porte and Henderson on the overall, the mid race sprints were very valuable and here Richie Porte sprints to try and hold on to his third place overall.
CONCLUDING THE TOUR OF BRITAIN
At the start of the 2010 Tour Of Britain organisers promised a different race to previous years, where proceedings were dominated by sprints and minute tactical battles - and boy did they deliver.
A race ripped apart in the opening days thanks to tough parcours and even tougher weather conditions forced many teams to rethink their racing strategy on the road. Arguably Team Sky were hardest hit by this uncertainty, their dreams of a home Tour win fading on day two and disappearing altogether on day three.
But where Team Sky lost out, Vaconsoleil and HTC-Colombia experienced huge gains - splitting the biggest accolades between them.
Perhaps the biggest winner though was the event itself. This years race attracted the biggest teams and riders yet and the biggest number of spectators - despite terrible weather. Best of all, it was something noted by the riders that support out on the road was excellent, with many already marking the event as a target on the 2011 calendar.
Jeremy Hunt of Cervelo tries yet again to get a move going along with three riders from British based teams, Pete Williams (Motorpoint Marshals Pasta), Wouter Sybrandy (Sigma Sport Specialized), Tom Barras (Raleigh) and Matt Brammeier of the An Post team.
Matt Stephens Reflects on the Tour of Britain
One of Britain's top professionals and most talented bike riders, is Matt Stephens of the SIgma Sport Specialized team. British Cycling spoke to him before stage 8 to get an insight into the race and stage 7.
“Personally, it has been a hard tour, terrain and the speed of the racing has been of a really high standard. As a team, I think we have punched above our weight. We have certainly tried to get stuck into the racing. Simon was knocking on the door of the top 10 and had a top placing on one of the hardest stages. We tried our hardest to get our riders into the moves and we succeeded on stage 7 and that was good positive exposure for the team.”
“We have learnt a lot as a unit and come out of it positively. We know the level we need to be at next year to be competitive. My last race at this level would have been the Giro (Tour of Italy). I have done the RAS a few years ago but this is a different level. I know personally, I am going to race one more year and I’d like to think I’d be able to ride this again but hopefully with better preparation.”
Back then, when I was racing at this level, I would have been making the selections and it can be hard some times to take the fact you’re going to take a kicking so I tried my hardest but I don’t have the legs I had 10 years ago. I still think I can inspire the team though. I still love the sport and it’s wonderful to bring the team here.”
“The racing here was aggressive from the off every day. I think the wind directions played their part and with a tailwind that helps to keep the momentum going.”
Asked if riders who are not in the big teams can see the selection being made, Matt replied “it’s hard to see it coming. On stage 7, it happened after 40 minutes, the day before it was after another half an hour. You just can’t afford to be complacent. You just need ride at or near the front and fire a guy away in every significant move.”
“You can’t do it all the time but we have been extremely active. The TV coverage does not reflect the aggressiveness in the way the team have ridden early in the stages. You just see the move going and it’s like that looks quite easy but before Tom’s move, we’d all been in little moves.”
“The only thing that seals it is when the break goes and the bunch fills the road and the two key teams in this race, Sky and HTC, shut it down and say that’s it. Guys then start peeling off for nature breaks and stuff. It has been hard to tell though when it was going to go.”
“On stage 7, when Minty (Tom Murray) was away, Sky rode quite early and I had a quiet word with Bradley and Steve about the tempo they were setting. They have a job too do and what they didn’t want to do was let the break get to six minutes and have to drive really hard at the end. From my point of view, Minty was not a major threat overall so I just wanted to make sure they respected us enough to give us some good exposure.”
“I don’t expect any gifts what so ever, but I expect when we get stuck in, for it to be fair. So I had a word and they lessened the tempo a little bit which was great for us. We knew it was probably going to be doomed, but if you don’t try, you never get anything.”
Former British road race champion of Rapha Condor Sharp, Kristian House, signs on for the final stage with his grand parents and mother watching from the gallery of people who came to watch the end of the Tour of Britain unfold.
Kristian House (Rapha Condor Sharp): “We have had a bit of bad luck and it has not been ideal. We have given the stages a good go though. I’ve had a few goes at getting away on stages and it’s not worked out. The day I thought I was on for a good ride, was the day the race was in the lanes and I got away in a group of four.”
“But it was also the day everyone decided to attack the yellow jersey so I ended up being in what became the peloton. I gave it a go at the very end but they reacted very quickly and I didn’t have anything left after that.”
“On stage 6, I went away with 15 breaks and all of them could have been the one but nobody was ready to let it go at the time and then when they finally decide after two hours of racing ‘actually, no, we’re going to stop’ and the road gets blocked and it’s done. It is kind of gutting when you are looking forward to getting away in that small move even if you know that at the end they will bring it back.”
“I didn’t want to go for the overall, I wanted to go for a stage win but that’s racing. I have had two really good Tours back to back and then this year, it’s not brilliant and you look ahead to next year.” On why teams don’t try to break the stranglehold the big ProTour teams have on the race, Kristian says, “There are teams that want to break it but there is like this unwritten rule, and it would be disrespectful to do so when the yellow jersey team want to shut it down. When it happens, the group up the road has two minutes, and you’re not going to try and cross it on your own.”
The Rapha Condor Sharp was also blighted by bad luck as Kristian explained. “Darren (Lapthorne) crashing out was gutting for him and for us and the same for Dan (Craven). Highlights? It is kind of hard to pick anything because nothing really happened for me. The crowds were unbelievable in this Tour even on the days when the weather was bad.”
“It was phenomenal seeing the people on the side of the road. Constitution Hill, that was amazing and that could have been anywhere in Europe. It shows that the Tour is getting stronger in the public eye and hopefully it will continue.”
Greg Henderson (Sky, Points winner above): “It was nice to claim one of the jerseys, one of the classifications for the week. It was an objective for Team Sky and today, we had the opportunity to move onto the podium for the overall and the team rode strong all week. It has been a pretty successful week”.
Describing his week, he says “I was chasing those boys over those climbs early on in the week and then having to defend my position overall as well as the Points jersey so it has been a very stressful and tough week. My team did a fantastic job all week like they always do. This team, once it sets up a plan, it commits to it and they rode so strong. I only had five teammates (teams of six) to help me which is a pretty small team but everyone was so strong that we came away with great results.”
“The fans have been awesome. Some of those sprint primes we were going for, the crowds were two and three deep and you could see where the road was going by the crowds lining the streets and it was great to see such a great turnout.”
“It was a tough course this year. I raced here two years ago and I think nearly every day was a bunch sprint and same last year and there was some criticism about that but this year there were some really lumpy stages which made for some really good racing.”
Asked whether the team felt any pressure being the home team and a ProTour one as well, Greg replied “Only the pressure we put on ourselves. We want to put on a good show for the public, it’s our home race so of course we wanted to do well. We wanted a classification jersey and we managed to tick that box, we wanted a stage and we ticked that box, and some one on the podium too and we finally managed to tick that box today with those two sprints I won.”
On whether there was a personal highlight: “Yes, the stage win. I know the finish and two years ago was riding with Bossan Hagen and he won there, so it was nice to keep it in the family so to speak. That was a nice stage to win. To get away with such a select group of guys and come out of it the strongest was a nice feeling. To win it, Edvald (Bossan Hagen) attacks at the roundabout with 400 to 500 metres to go, I waited for a couple of hundred metres before I went!”
Three of the four jersey winners, Greg Henderson (Points), Michael Albasini (Yellow) and Michael Golas (Sprints). The KoM jersey winner Johnny Googerland had to dash off to Stanstead for a flight home!
Michael Albasini (Yellow Jersey): “I feel perfect, very happy about this victory. It is a very important victory for me, my first one, and it saves for me my season. Two days after my win, I was a little bit sick in the night, and I lose a lot of power and I was really on the limit to go home like Tony Martin and so I am happy I was able to defend the jersey with my teammates.”
“I have to give them a big thanks for the work during the week. Without a team, you can never win a stage race. For Team Sky, there was more stress than for us. We come here and we can win but for them, they have to win. I know from being in our team that pressure.”
He then said his stage victory in Swansea was his highlight. On the number of fans at the roadside he said “At the start, there was not so much but it got better and better. They like cycling and I was surprised how many come to watch. Today, we are not in the city but a lot of people come to watch out here and that is really nice.”
“I think the Tour of Britain is getting more important like British cycling and I am really happy to win the stage race. It was hard and had long stages, and with only six riders, it was hard to defend the jersey, to control the race. That was what made the race really hard. And the stages were hilly and nervous and I think we raced this year, always full gas, and now everybody is really tired.”
Finally, some one asked why he had shaved for the final stage – “Because I am going home, it is for my wife!” Michael then left the media centre and for those who had been on the race all week, the event was suddenly over and whilst tried and as exhausted as the riders, they all went their separate ways hoping that next year, the Tour of Britain again returns to the roads of this country.
Andre Greipel wins the final stage of the Tour of Britain.
Relief perhaps the Tour is over? Brad Wiggins crosses the line arms aloft.
