Tour de Yorkshire 2016 – Stage 1 [LAST 90 KM]

April 29, 2016
Tour de Yorkshire 2016 – Stage 1– Beverly – Settle – 184 km

The 2016 Tour de Yorkshire is a cycling stage race that takes place in Yorkshire in April–May 2016. It is the second edition of the Tour de Yorkshire and is organised by Welcome to Yorkshire and the Amaury Sport Organisation. The race starts on 29 April and ends on 1 May. There is also a women’s race that is scheduled for 30 April. The organisers had applied to British Cycling to increase the race to four days for 2016 but this application was rejected.

Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) took victory on the opening stage of the Tour de Yorkshire, getting the better of a boxed-in Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) in the sprint finish in Settle.

The Dutchman, whose teammates had shut down a solo move from Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) just ahead of the flamme rouge, went left as he came round Niklas Arndt (Giant-Alpecin) – who finished third – to open his sprint, leaving the young Australian Ewan with no room to get round.

Groenewegen pulled on the first blue leader’s jersey of the 2016 race for his efforts and, thanks to bonus seconds, he leads the overall by four seconds over Ewan ahead of the repeat sprint showdown expected on Saturday.

“It was very good lead-out from my team. It was perfect; the last corner I took the lead and I could hold it to the finish. I’m very happy with this win, it’s very good for me and the team,” said Groenewegen.

“I think not,” he said when asked if there was any chance bonus seconds could help him mount a bid for the overall. “I go for it tomorrow then Sunday it’s for Steven [Kruijswijk] and Primoz [Roglic].”

The north of England served up its unique cocktail of hills, grippy roads and grim weather on the 183km trip from Beverley to Settle. Despite the adverse conditions, with driving rain and winds of around 35km/h, and headwind for the most part, it was a relatively contained affair.

Six riders went up the road early on and they were kept on a four-minute leash for much of the day thanks mostly to the efforts of Team Sky, who only had Danny van Poppel’s sixth place to show for it. Once on the final circuit inside the final 15km, the French duo of Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) and Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) enjoyed a few kilometres solo, before Cummings launched his threatening late move, but there were enough teams and numbers to ensure the bunch sprint.

How it happened

Almost as soon as the flag had dropped, so had many of the riders. There was a big crash in the early stages and though no one was seriously affected, a group of breakaway hopefuls managed to forge clear before order had been restored.

Jens Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Pete Williams (One Pro Cycling), Sebastian Mora (Raleigh GAC), Matt Cronshaw (Madison Genisis), Nils Politt (Katusha), Graham Briggs (JLT Condor) were the escape artists and they soon had four minutes as Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) was sent to the front to assume policing duties, and he stayed there for some time.

He was joined by teammate Xavier Xandio and later by Orica’s King Lok Cheung, and it was a big effort just to keep things under control, with the peloton strung out into a line as the riders battled a 34km/h headwind and driving rain. Bernard Eisel was an increasingly prominent figure at the front in the final 100km as riders grappled with gilets and rain jackets in the ever-changing conditions.

With 70km to go, Wallays, Williams and Politt used the rolling terrain to dispose of their breakaway companions and they battled it out for the KOM points on the Côte de Greenhow Hill – where Williams came out on top convincingly. After that, though, they were brought back by the bunch and, after a couple of counter attacks, it was all together and under control in the last 30km

At the intermediate sprint in Giggleswick, Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) attacked in search of three relatively easy bonus seconds but he was followed and passed by compatriot Anthony Turgis (Cofidis). That duo then enjoyed a tailwind as they managed to hold of the bunch into the final 5km but it was Cummings who then rolled the dice. After a few moments of hesitation and panic, Lotto brought him back under the flamme rouge and put Groenewgen in a good position for the sprint. They were brought back but Steve Cummings was already on the attack and he rolled the dice. He had a handful of seconds going into the final couple of kilometres and after a moment of panic, LottoNL-Jumbo turned up the pace and brought it back together underneath the flamme rouge.

Karol Domagalski (ONE Pro) led it out but Groenewegen came past from third with a strong surge of pace. Ewan, the pre-race favourite, was on his wheel and will be left to wonder what might have been if he’d had space to take on the Dutchman.

Results :
1 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 5:09:11
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
3 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
4 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie
5 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky
6 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team
7 Christopher Lawless (GBr) JLT Condor
8 Karol Domagalski (Pol) ONE Pro Cycling
9 Dion Smith (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling
10 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
11 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
12 Magnus Cort (Den) Orica-GreenEdge
13 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge
14 Tom Stewart (GBr) Madison Genesis
15 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Team Raleigh–GAC
16 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky
17 Huub Duijn (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton
18 Russell Downing (GBr) JLT Condor
19 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Direct Energie
20 Loïc Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
21 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data
22 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team
23 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
24 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team
25 Tiago Machado (Por) Team Katusha
26 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team
27 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
28 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie
29 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
30 Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Team Sky
31 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team
32 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton
33 Mark Christian (GBr) Team WIGGINS
34 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team
35 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
36 Ian Bibby (GBr) NFTO
37 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data
38 Lars van der Haar (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin
39 Alberto Losada (Spa) Team Katusha
40 Steve Lampier (GBr) JLT Condor
41 James Lowsley-Williams (GBr) NFTO
42 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
43 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Direct Energie
44 Erick Rowsell (GBr) Madison Genesis
45 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
46 Alistair Slater (GBr) JLT Condor
47 Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Great Britain
48 Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel) Team Katusha
49 Matthieu Boulo (Fra) Team Raleigh–GAC
50 Morgan Kneisky (Fra) Team Raleigh–GAC
51 Christopher Juul-Jensen (Den) Orica-GreenEdge
52 Angel Vicioso (Spa) Team Katusha
53 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
54 Nick van der Lijke (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton
55 Thomas Moses (GBr) JLT Condor
56 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin
57 Gruffudd Lewis (GBr) Madison Genesis
58 Matt Holmes (GBr) Madison Genesis
59 Johann Van Zyl (RSA) Dimension Data
60 Bram Tankink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
61 Edmund Bradbury (GBr) NFTO
62 Richard Handley (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
63 Liam Holohan (GBr) Team WIGGINS
64 Stijn Steels (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
65 Dale Appleby (GBr) NFTO
66 Maxime Farazijn (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
67 Alexandre Blain (GBr) Madison Genesis
68 Aimé Degendt (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
69 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team
70 Conor Dunne (Irl) JLT Condor
71 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
72 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) ONE Pro Cycling
73 Romain Hardy (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
74 Jérémy Cornu (Fra) Direct Energie
75 Martin Mortensen (Den) ONE Pro Cycling
76 James Oram (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling
77 Tom Leezer (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
78 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Team WIGGINS
79 Robert Wagner (Ger) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
80 Stephen Williams (GBr) JLT Condor
81 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data
82 Rhys Lloyd (GBr) NFTO
83 Marco Haller (Aut) Team Katusha 0:00:26
84 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:32
85 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:36
86 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:38
87 Michael Morkov (Den) Team Katusha 0:00:46
88 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Orica-GreenEdge 0:01:11
89 Joshua Edmondson (GBr) NFTO 0:01:12
90 Adria Moreno Sala (Spa) Team Raleigh–GAC
91 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Direct Energie
92 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data 0:01:20
93 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:23
94 Jef Van Meirhaeghe (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
95 Evan Oliphant (GBr) Team Raleigh–GAC 0:01:38
96 Tristan Robbins (GBr) Madison Genesis
97 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:02:55
98 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
99 Carter Jones (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin
100 Nils Politt (Ger) Team Katusha
101 Jonathan McEvoy (GBr) NFTO
102 Robert Partridge (GBr) NFTO
103 Sam Lowe (GBr) Team WIGGINS
104 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky
105 Ivar Slik (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton 0:03:12
106 Sebastian Mora (Spa) Team Raleigh–GAC
107 Ian Wilkinson (GBr) Great Britain
108 Peter Williams (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 0:04:24
109 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Team Sky 0:05:43
110 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Team Sky
111 King Lok Cheung (HKg) Orica-GreenEdge
112 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
113 Jens Wallays (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
114 Chris Opie (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
115 Taylor Gunman (NZl) Madison Genesis 0:06:34
116 Grant Ferguson (GBr) Great Britain 0:08:26
117 Fredrik Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:10:44
118 Michael O’Loughlin (Irl) Team WIGGINS
119 Marc De Maar (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton
120 André Looij (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton
121 Bryan Nauleau (Fra) Direct Energie
122 George Pym (GBr) Team Raleigh–GAC
123 Oliver Wood (GBr) Great Britain
124 Matt Cronshaw (GBr) Madison Genesis
125 Iain Paton (GBr) Great Britain 0:12:14
126 Joseph Fry (GBr) Great Britain 0:14:33
127 Mark Stewart (GBr) Great Britain 0:16:38
128 Daniel Patten (GBr) Team WIGGINS
129 Barry Markus (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton 0:19:16
130 Richard Hepworth (GBr) Team Raleigh–GAC 0:20:14
131 Ruben Pols (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
132 Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor
133 Khalid Ibrahim (GBr) Great Britain 0:21:31
DNF Fabrice Jeandesboz (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team WIGGINS
DNF Scott Davies (GBr) Team WIGGINS
DNF Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data
DNF Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Rudy Molard (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
DNF Sven Erik Byström (Nor) Team Katusha