Tour of Britain 2018 – Stage 8 [FULL STAGE]

September 09, 2018

Tour of Britain 2018 – Stage 8 – London – London : 77 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.

Until he roared up Lower Regent Street to take a decisive stage victory, Caleb Ewan had endured a frustrating final week to close an utterly frustrating season, so the joy on his face spoke volumes, as he continued celebrating most of the way up to Piccadilly Circus. The victory came in his final race with the Mitchelton-Scott team, ensuring that his time with them came to a happy conclusion.

Not far behind, Julian Alaphilippe celebrated his first stag- race victory since the Tour of California in 2016 with a tap on the back of the rider next to him. The Frenchman wasn’t saying thanks to a team mate however, but apologising to Bardiani’s Paolo Simion for having leaned on him in the final gallop to the line just behind Ewan. But he did the necessary as expected, holding on to his 17-second lead ahead of Team Sky’s Wout Poels.

The final 77 kilometres of the Tour of Britain followed their traditional pattern: effusive crowds lining the barriers and a battle for the intermediate sprints, which on this occasion had an edge to it as Madison-Genesis’s Matt Holmes was out to oust Canyon-Eisberg’s Ben Paton from the only jersey in which the British domestic teams had an interest. Come the final sprint, Holmes led out, only for Paton to put in a massive effort to come past and clinch the award.

As usual in London, the breaks failed, although the spectators did get to witness a crowd pleasing attack from Chris Froome, and a longer-lasting effort from Vasil Kiriyenka. The final kilometres were marked by the young Great Britain team putting in a lengthy lead-out, only for the WorldTour teams to whizz past them at the critical moment with just over a kilometre to go. GB were rewarded, however, when Ethan Hayter traded pedal strokes with Fernando Gaviria and Ewan to take fifth place, not long before his 20th birthday.

The final sprint belonged to Ewan, who had had to grit his teeth the previous day when the chase behind stage winner Ian Stannard and the rest of the break fell short, and who had been a frustrated man since Mitchelton dropped him from their Tour de France team in late June. He had not won a major race since February and the Almeria Classic, hence his delight.

“This year hasn’t been great for me so I wanted to finish off with a good result,” said Ewan, who joins Lotto Soudal for 2019. “I was so motivated to win the stage, and I’m glad I had good legs at the end. It gives me a bit of confidence going into next year.”

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

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