Tour of Britain 2017 – Stage 7 [FULL STAGE]

September 09, 2017

Tour of Britain 2017 – Stage 7 – Hemel Hempstead – Cheltenham : 185 km

The 2017 Tour of Britain is a eight-stage men’s professional road cycling race. It is the fourteenth running of the modern version of the Tour of Britain and the 77th British tour in total. The race starts on 3 September in Edinburgh and finishes on 10 September in Cardiff. The race is part of the 2017 UCI Europe Tour.

Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) won a wet and wild stage seven of the Tour of Britain. Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) just missed out on yet another win to take second, while Brenton Jones (JLT-Condor) finished third. Groenwegen’s teammate Lars Boom retains the overall lead.

It was the first stage of the race that saw any real attacks outside of the daily breakaway, and with some relatively major hills in the finale, the action started from 80km out. Katusha-Alpecin were perhaps the most active team of the day, sending rider after rider up the road, including Tony Martin, who spent 20km solo at the head of the race before being caught before the day’s final sprint.

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) provided the major threat to Boom’s GC position, attacking on the final climb. His move had looked promising, but the sprinter’s teams behind put paid to it within sight of the flamme rouge.

First Katusha-Alpecin, then Orica-Scott took to the head of the peloton, but what has been the best leadout of the race so far failed to deliver on the damp roads of Cheltenham. Instead it was Groenewegen who got it right, passing Luka Mezgec by the barriers to hold off a fast-approaching Ewan on the line.

“The stage was very hard but I survived and also GC was important for the team,” Groenewegen said at the post-race press conference. “It was a hard day for the team but I survived it.

“It was a little bit of a freestyle sprint so I sprinted from Caleb Ewan’s wheel and Gaviria, but yeah I saw the finish line and I was thought ‘yeah I can hold it,’” he added. “Yeah I think so [it’s my best year]. If you can win a stage in the Tour de France that’s a really good win so yeah it’s a very good year.”

Race leader Lars Boom was pleased with the team’s work on the day, despite the barrage of attacks he withstood.

“With the small breakawy with Boasson Hagen, it was a little bit critical, but I think I went full on the downhill to keep the gap as close as possible,” Boom said. “Then some sprinter’s teams took over and still we won the sprint, so it was a great day.”

How it unfolded

There was a warm start to the penultimate stage of the Tour of Britain in Hemel Hempstead, as the riders prepared to tackle the hilliest stage yet; potentially the decisive stage in sorting the final GC.

LottoNL-Jumbo had 185km up ahead of them during which they’d have to fend off any assaults on Boom’s tenuous eight second lead. Teammate Victor Campanaerts started the day in second, but the likes of Michał Kwiat-kowski, Geraint Thomas (both Team Sky) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) all lay within 20 seconds of Boom.

The fight for the break began as soon as the flag dropped, and several groups came and went before the definitive break of the day was established after 26km. Dexter Gardias (Bike Channel-Canyon), Steele Von Hoff (One Pro Cycling) and Robert Power (Orica-Scott) were the first men to escape, and were soon joined by Jacob Scott (AnPost-Chain Reaction), Lukasz Owsian (CCC Sprandi-Polkowice) and Russell Downing (JLT-Condor).

Back in the peloton the pace slowed, with the big teams clearly content with the makeup of the breakaway. The gap quickly grew out to four minutes on the rolling early part of the stage in the Cotswolds, while the early sunshine gave way to showers, which would come and go all day.

Scott took the first of the day’s three climbs ahead of Owsian, further extending his mountain classification lead. Back in the peloton, LottoNL-Jumbo were in control, as Bike Channel-Canyon and CCC Sprandi-Polkowice lay close behind, perhaps attempting to disrupt the chase.

With 120km of the race run and with the hills at the stage’s end fast approaching, Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin) had clearly tired of hanging around in the peloton and put in a speculative attack. The 31-year-old quickly built a one minute gap, but looked doomed to remain chasse patate.

As the kilometres ticked by, there was action in the peloton with 50 to go as a small group including Michał Kwiatkowski (Team Sky), Reto Hollenstein (Katusha-Alpecin), Alex Dowsett (Movistar), Ryan Mullen (Cannondale-Garmin) and Silvan Dillier (BMC) clipped away. They gained a 20 second gap, but eventually only succeeded in quickening the peloton’s pace, which brought everything back together.

Katusha-Alpecin were clearly keen to take something from the day, as world time trial champion Tony Martin immediately countered. The already reduced peloton splintered and regrouped as various attempts were made to bridge over to the German, who enjoyed a 20 second lead.

In the valley before the final climb, there looked to be around 60 riders remaining as Sky and Dimension Data did the work. Martin was caught with 13km to go, just before fourth-placed man Stefan Küng (BMC) took three bonus seconds at the final sprint of the day, while Boom took one.

Attacks peppered the final climb of the day, just 10km from the line. Boom had managed to close down the majority, until an attack from Boasson Hagen managed to stick. Gorka Izagirre (Movistar), Laurens De Plus (Quick Step Floors), Dylan Van Baarle (Cannondale-Drapac) and Dion Smith (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) went with him, until a crash took Van Baarle and De Plus out of the reckoning with 6km to go.

After Boom frantically motioned for help chasing the move, it was Katusha once again who came to the front, ending Boasson Hagen’s GC hopes 2km of the finish. Orica-Scott’s train was the next to go into action, but it was Groenwegen who prospered, just denying Ewan victory number four.

Results :
1 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 4:26:58
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott
3 Brenton Jones (Aus) JLT Condor
4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
5 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
6 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Movistar Team
7 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors
8 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal
9 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team
10 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Bardiani CSF
11 Maciej Paterski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
12 Jan Tratnik (Slo) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
13 Kamil Gradek (Pol) One Pro Cycling
14 Ethan Hayter (GBr) Great Britain
15 Oliver Wood (GBr) Great Britain
16 Lars Boom (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
17 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team
18 Jonas Koch (Ger) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
19 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Orica-Scott
20 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
21 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
22 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
23 Patrick Bevin (NZl) Cannondale-Drapac
24 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team
25 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
26 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Dimension Data
27 Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani CSF
28 Connor Swift (GBr) Madison Genesis
29 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
30 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
31 Senne Leysen (Bel) Lotto Soudal
32 Mark Stewart (GBr) An Post Chain Reaction
33 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac
34 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
35 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
36 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal
37 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
38 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
39 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team
40 Karol Domagalski (Pol) One Pro Cycling
41 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
42 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
43 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team
44 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team
45 James Oram (NZl) One Pro Cycling
46 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
47 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal
48 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team
49 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
50 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team
51 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors
52 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF
53 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
54 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
55 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica-Scott
56 Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac
57 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:14
58 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:00:26
59 Jay Thompson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:00:34
60 Ian Bibby (GBr) JLT Condor 0:00:48
61 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:01:02
62 Eric Marcotte (USA) Cylance Cycling 0:01:57
63 Mark Mcnally (GBr) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:02:33
64 Jonathan Mcevoy (GBr) Madison Genesis
65 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac 0:03:20
66 Taylor Gunman (NZl) Madison Genesis 0:07:39
67 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
68 Alexandre Blain (Fra) Madison Genesis
69 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal
70 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
71 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
72 Dexter Gardias (GBr) Bike Channel Canyon
73 Peter Williams (GBr) One Pro Cycling
74 Andres Diaz (Ven) Cylance Cycling
75 Sean Mckenna (Irl) An Post Chain Reaction
76 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
77 Hayden Mccormick (NZl) One Pro Cycling
78 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott
79 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team
80 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal
81 Richard Handley (GBr) Madison Genesis
82 Russell Downing (GBr) JLT Condor
83 Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor
84 Rory Townsend (GBr) Bike Channel Canyon 0:08:22
85 Matthew Teggart (Irl) An Post Chain Reaction
86 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
87 Alistair Slater (GBr) JLT Condor
88 Thomas Gibbons (USA) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
89 Steele Von Hoff (Aus) One Pro Cycling
90 Robert Partridge (GBr) Bike Channel Canyon
91 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
92 Jacob Scott (GBr) An Post Chain Reaction 0:08:36
93 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:09:20
94 Harry Tanfield (GBr) Bike Channel Canyon 0:12:05
95 Kyle Murphy (USA) Cylance Cycling
96 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF
97 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
98 Adam Hartley (GBr) Great Britain
99 Regan Gough (NZl) An Post Chain Reaction
100 Simone Andreetta (Ita) Bardiani CSF
101 Alan Banaszek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
102 Roger Kluge (Ger) Orica-Scott 0:13:04
103 James Gullen (GBr) JLT Condor 0:24:18
104 Jacob Hennessy (GBr) Great Britain
DNF James Knox (GBr) Great Britain
DNF Damien Shaw (Irl) An Post Chain Reaction
DNF Chris Opie (GBr) Bike Channel Canyon
DNS Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
DNS Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
DNS Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Bardiani CSF
DNS Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team

General Classification after Stage 7 :
1 Lars Boom (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 26:37:28
2 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:08
3 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:09
4 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:00:10
5 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:14
6 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:15
7 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:00:20
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
9 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
10 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:28
11 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:29
12 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:00:32
13 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:00:40
14 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:52
15 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team
16 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:54
17 Patrick Bevin (NZl) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:55
18 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team
19 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:56
20 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:57
21 Kamil Gradek (Pol) One Pro Cycling 0:00:58
22 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:05
23 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
24 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:11
25 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:13
26 James Oram (NZl) One Pro Cycling 0:01:20
27 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:21
28 Hugh Carthy (GBr) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:24
29 Karol Domagalski (Pol) One Pro Cycling 0:01:26
30 Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:29
31 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal
32 Maciej Paterski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:01:38
33 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Movistar Team 0:01:40
34 Mark Stewart (GBr) An Post Chain Reaction 0:01:41
35 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:42
36 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:48
37 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team 0:01:49
38 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:58
39 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:59
40 Oliver Wood (GBr) Great Britain 0:02:00
41 Brenton Jones (Aus) JLT Condor 0:02:01
42 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
43 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:02:04
44 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:02:16
45 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Orica-Scott
46 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:02:34
47 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:42
48 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:03:22
49 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:03:24
50 Jan Tratnik (Slo) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:03:55
51 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:04:18
52 Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:05:23
53 Jay Thompson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:05:28
54 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:07:08
55 Connor Swift (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:07:54
56 Senne Leysen (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:08:06
57 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 0:08:45
58 Hayden Mccormick (NZl) One Pro Cycling 0:08:56
59 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:09:06
60 Eric Marcotte (USA) Cylance Cycling 0:09:37
61 Jonas Koch (Ger) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:09:49
62 Russell Downing (GBr) JLT Condor 0:09:55
63 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:10:11
64 Matthew Teggart (Irl) An Post Chain Reaction 0:11:03
65 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:11:38
66 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:11:55
67 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac 0:11:56
68 Mark Mcnally (GBr) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:12:25
69 Steele Von Hoff (Aus) One Pro Cycling 0:13:01
70 Dexter Gardias (GBr) Bike Channel Canyon 0:14:15
71 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Dimension Data 0:14:24
72 Rory Townsend (GBr) Bike Channel Canyon 0:14:25
73 Richard Handley (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:15:35
74 Alistair Slater (GBr) JLT Condor 0:16:04
75 Regan Gough (NZl) An Post Chain Reaction 0:16:55
76 Roger Kluge (Ger) Orica-Scott 0:17:19
77 Peter Williams (GBr) One Pro Cycling 0:17:36
78 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:17:42
79 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:17:44
80 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:17:53
81 Alexandre Blain (Fra) Madison Genesis 0:18:05
82 Thomas Gibbons (USA) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:18:12
83 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:18:36
84 Ethan Hayter (GBr) Great Britain 0:20:21
85 Ian Bibby (GBr) JLT Condor 0:20:31
86 Jonathan Mcevoy (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:22:05
87 Taylor Gunman (NZl) Madison Genesis 0:22:21
88 Jacob Scott (GBr) An Post Chain Reaction 0:22:34
89 Sean Mckenna (Irl) An Post Chain Reaction 0:23:19
90 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:23:26
91 Andres Diaz (Ven) Cylance Cycling 0:23:31
92 Harry Tanfield (GBr) Bike Channel Canyon 0:23:58
93 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky 0:24:10
94 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:24:40
95 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:27:23
96 Alan Banaszek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:27:44
97 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:29:11
98 Simone Andreetta (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:30:38
99 Robert Partridge (GBr) Bike Channel Canyon 0:30:51
100 Kyle Murphy (USA) Cylance Cycling 0:31:04
101 James Gullen (GBr) JLT Condor 0:33:17
102 Jacob Hennessy (GBr) Great Britain 0:38:59
103 Adam Hartley (GBr) Great Britain 0:41:29
104 Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor 0:48:46