Tour of Britain 2018 – Stage 7 [FULL STAGE]

September 8, 2018

Tour of Britain 2018 – Stage 7 – West Bridgford – Mansfield : 223 km

With no Lars Boom, the 2018 OVO Energy Tour of Britain is without its defending champion. However, the Dutchman’s LottoNL-Jumbo team are bringing none other than Primož Roglic – the Slovenian star who took a solo stage win in the Pyrenees and fourth place overall at this year’s Tour de France. And it gets even better than that, with 2018 Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas and four-time Tour winner Chris Froome lining up for Team Sky at the race. Add to the mix sprinters André Greipel (Lotto Soudal), Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) and Fernando Gaviria, plus the latter’s Quick-Step Floors teammate and the winner of two stages and the polka-dot jersey as best climber at this year’s Tour de France, Julian Alaphilippe, and it quickly becomes apparent that the Tour of Britain organisers are doing nothing short of spoiling roadside – and armchair – fans at this year’s race. On the racing front, the uphill team time trial on stage 5 brings something new to the table, while the climbers are catered for with a double ascent of the same climb used for the TTT – albeit from the other side of Whinlatter Pass – the next day. With sprinting opportunities aplenty, and the big finish in London, it all adds up to suggest that this year’s eight-day race could be one of the best yet.

Ian Stannard landed a strongman’s victory at the Tour of Britain in Mansfield after being out front in the wind and rain for almost 200 kilometres, in autumn chill that could easily have been Flanders in spring.

The 31-year-old Team Sky rider had no option but to win alone, having found himself up front with Nils Politt of Katusha with 25 kilometres left to the line after they had eluded a five-man break. But that is how Stannard likes to do it and he burst clear of Politt on a rise with 16 kilometres. For the next 10 kilometres the pair remained locked in combat, before Stannard finally cracked his rival and went on to win alone.

“When the bunch was chasing, we had to work harder but everyone was getting tired; when they stopped chasing you could see the guys easing off, so I had to go,” Stannard explained.

“The first time I went he came with me, I felt I was a little bit stronger but in my mind he’s a strong rider so I had to hit him on a climb. It was always six or seven seconds, but on those rollers at the end I managed to crack him.”

For once, the sprinters teams were outmanoeuvred, due partly to the constant twisting and turning of the race route which left little chance to get a chase moving. It was partly to the weather and also the fact that Lotto-Soudal had made a tactical decision to leaving the bulk of the chasing to Caleb Ewan’s Mitchelton-Scott, an option that backfired on both teams.

With the five escapees enjoying almost a seven-minute lead midway through the stage, Mitchelton-Scott initially placed Mikel Nieve on the front, then added Cameron Meyer, and finally put Roger Kluge up there as well. Team Sunweb contributed a single rider, the British squad OnePro added a man as well, but when Mitchelton-Scott sat up with the gap at 4min 30 kilometres out, the sprinters had missed their chance.

The word before the start was that Stannard would be on an attacking mission, and the 31-year-old from Essex got moving soon after the start, initially dragging a 20-rider group clear over the opening King of the Mountains climb of the day. That break was doomed as it included fifth placed Bob Jungels and soon afterwards, Stannard pressed on, initially with Politt until they were caught by Mark McNally (Wanty), Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani) and Alex Paton (Canyon-Eisberg).

The five gained over six minutes before Mitchelton-Scott began to mount a serious chase together with Team Sunweb, Quick Step Floors, OnePro and the Great Britain amateur team. As Stannard piled on the pressure, Paton was dropped with 50km remaining, but his mission was complete: he had taken all three intermediate sprints to take over the lead in that competition. McNally was struggling too, and he and Carboni disappeared as soon as Stannard began softening up the break.

Behind, the Quick Step Floors team of race leader Julian Alaphilippe spent the day controlling his immediate rivals Wout Poels and Primoz Roglic, who are only 17 and 33 seconds back respectively.

“I can’t say the race is won,” said the Frenchman, “not until we reach the finish in London. I’m glad this is over. It was a long and difficult day, and the team had to work hard through the whole day to keep a lid on things.”

The Tour of Britain ends on Sunday with a 77km circuit stage around central London.

Results :
1 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky 4:56:27
2 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:59
3 Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:03:09
4 Mark McNally (GBr) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:03:54
5 Emils Liepins (Lat) ONE Pro Cycling 0:04:04
6 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team
7 Ethan Hayter (GBr) Great Britain
8 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF
9 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Canyon-Eisberg
10 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team Sunweb
11 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
12 Romain Cardis (Fra) Direct Energie
13 Dmitry Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
14 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
15 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors
16 Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Team Wiggins
17 Matti Breschel (Den) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
18 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
19 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
20 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Dimension Data
21 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
22 Connor Swift (GBr) Madison Genesis
23 Jos van Emden (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
24 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
25 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
26 Jasha Sutterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
27 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
28 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Movistar Team
29 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) BMC Racing Team
30 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
31 Ben Swift (GBr) Great Britain
32 Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo
33 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
34 Max Stedman (GBr) Canyon-Eisberg
35 Fred Wright (GBr) Great Britain
36 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
37 Edmund Bradbury (GBr) JLT Condor
38 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo
39 Tom Pidcock (GBr) Team Wiggins
40 Peter Williams (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
41 Ryan Christensen (NZl) Canyon-Eisberg
42 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
43 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
44 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team
45 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
46 Mads WŸrtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
47 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal
48 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
49 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky
50 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
51 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
52 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team
53 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors
54 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF
55 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie
56 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie
57 Koen Bouwman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
58 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
59 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
60 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Direct Energie
61 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
62 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
63 Simone Antonini (Ita) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
64 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
65 Matthew Bostock (GBr) Great Britain
66 Robert Power (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
67 Svein Tuft (Can) Mitchelton-Scott
68 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Direct Energie
69 Hayden McCormick (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling
70 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
71 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:22
72 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:26
73 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
74 Alistair Slater (GBr) JLT Condor
75 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
76 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal
77 Dexter Gardias (GBr) Canyon-Eisberg
78 Thomas Moses (GBr) JLT Condor
79 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
80 Rory Townsend (GBr) Canyon-Eisberg 0:04:40
81 Roger Kluge (Ger) Mitchelton-Scott
82 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky
83 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
84 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie
85 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb
86 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:04:53
87 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:07:21
88 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
89 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF
90 Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani CSF
91 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Bardiani CSF
92 Erick Rowsell (GBr) Madison Genesis
93 Richard Handley (GBr) Madison Genesis
94 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
95 Jonathan McEvoy (GBr) Madison Genesis
96 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Madison Genesis
97 Mark Downey (Irl) Team Wiggins
98 Stephen Williams (GBr) Great Britain
99 Jonathan Mould (GBr) JLT Condor
100 James Fouché (NZL) Team Wiggins
101 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:07:39
102 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:07:51
103 Thomas Stewart (GBr) JLT Condor 0:08:58
104 James Oram (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling
105 Christopher Latham (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 0:09:37
106 George Pym (GBr) Madison Genesis
107 Thomas Baylis (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 0:11:23
108 Joe Nally (GBr) Great Britain 0:15:26
109 Alex Paton (GBr) Canyon-Eisberg 0:15:28

General Classification after Stage 8 :
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 24:47:25
2 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:17
3 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:33
4 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team 0:00:46
5 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:51
6 Jasha Sutterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:00:58
7 Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:10
8 Dmitry Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:24
9 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:01:28
10 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:35
11 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:49
12 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data 0:01:54
13 Jos van Emden (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:58
14 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:02:00
15 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Direct Energie 0:02:09
16 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:02:13
17 Ethan Hayter (GBr) Great Britain 0:02:17
18 Tom Pidcock (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:02:24
19 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:02:27
20 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
21 Max Stedman (GBr) Canyon-Eisberg 0:02:42
22 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:33
23 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:50
24 Edmund Bradbury (GBr) JLT Condor 0:04:12
25 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Movistar Team 0:04:33
26 Svein Tuft (Can) Mitchelton-Scott 0:04:42
27 Robert Power (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:05:27
28 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:05:45
29 Emils Liepins (Lat) ONE Pro Cycling 0:05:48
30 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:05:51
31 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Dimension Data 0:05:52
32 Connor Swift (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:06:17
33 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:07:02
34 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:07:20
35 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:07:25
36 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie 0:07:38
37 Stephen Williams (GBr) Great Britain 0:07:51
38 Mads WŸrtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:08:02
39 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin 0:08:05
40 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:08:11
41 Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:08:14
42 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Direct Energie 0:08:23
43 Ryan Christensen (NZl) Canyon-Eisberg 0:09:07
44 Matti Breschel (Den) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:09:51
45 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:10:15
46 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:10:26
47 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:10:43
48 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
49 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky 0:11:02
50 Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:11:15
51 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:11:18
52 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:11:23
53 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team 0:12:30
54 Nils Eekhoff (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:12:32
55 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:12:36
56 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors 0:13:02
57 Ben Swift (GBr) Great Britain 0:13:16
58 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:14:12
59 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:14:28
60 James Oram (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 0:14:35
61 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:15:11
62 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:15:41
63 Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:15:42
64 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:15:45
65 Mark McNally (GBr) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:16:11
66 Fred Wright (GBr) Great Britain 0:16:23
67 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:18:07
68 Romain Cardis (Fra) Direct Energie 0:18:19
69 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:18:28
70 Alistair Slater (GBr) JLT Condor 0:19:41
71 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data 0:20:14
72 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors 0:20:47
73 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:20:59
74 Mark Downey (Irl) Team Wiggins 0:21:05
75 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:21:15
76 Simone Antonini (Ita) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:21:26
77 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:21:32
78 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:22:02
79 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie 0:22:10
80 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal 0:22:24
81 Hayden McCormick (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 0:22:36
82 Peter Williams (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 0:22:41
83 James Fouché (NZL) Team Wiggins 0:23:24
84 Richard Handley (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:23:55
85 Erick Rowsell (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:24:52
86 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:26:15
87 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:27:04
88 Matthew Bostock (GBr) Great Britain 0:27:18
89 Thomas Baylis (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 0:27:59
90 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:28:30
91 Thomas Moses (GBr) JLT Condor 0:29:33
92 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie 0:29:51
93 Koen Bouwman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:30:08
94 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:30:10
95 Jonathan McEvoy (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:31:49
96 Roger Kluge (Ger) Mitchelton-Scott 0:32:37
97 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Canyon-Eisberg 0:33:43
98 Jonathan Mould (GBr) JLT Condor 0:34:04
99 Rory Townsend (GBr) Canyon-Eisberg 0:35:26
100 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:36:15
101 Dexter Gardias (GBr) Canyon-Eisberg 0:36:37
102 Thomas Stewart (GBr) JLT Condor 0:37:37
103 George Pym (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:41:08
104 Christopher Latham (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 0:41:30
105 Joe Nally (GBr) Great Britain 0:41:31
106 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:42:16
107 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:42:32
108 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:45:19
109 Alex Paton (GBr) Canyon-Eisberg 0:50:35