Tour of Britain 2022 – Stage 5 [LAST 10 KM]

September 8, 2022

Tour of Britain 2022 – Stage 5 – West Bridgford – Mansfield : 186,8 km

The Tour of Britain is the UK’s most established stage-race and one of the biggest chances for semi-professional domestic riders to race alongside some of the top names in the pro peloton. If a young Brit on a domestic squad can perform well here they may just secure a place on a WorldTour team for the following year. As a result stakes are often high in this race, creating a dogged fight all the way from the start to the finish. Formerly known as the Milk Race, this eight-day event has been through many iterations throughout its 77-year history, with some editions being held exclusively for amateur riders. In the late 80s and 90s the race started to open the door to more professional riders, leading to large pelotons consisting of amateur riders desperate for a pro contract, and professional riders looking to get through the stages in one piece. The race first returned as a five-day stage-race but soon bumped this up to eight days in 2008. It has followed this format since, with each edition touring a different area of the UK. These races are characterised by several hilly stages through some of the UK’s most mountainous areas, like the Lake District, Pennines and Snowdonia, and a midweek time-trial. The race therefore favours strong puncheurs that are also adept time-trialists.

Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed his first win of the season in a bunch sprint at the end of stage 5 of the Tour of Britain.

The Belgian got the better of Stanisław Aniołkowski (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB), while Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) also got involved in the sprint to finish third, claiming four seconds.

Meeus had the speed to come from behind Aniołkowski’s wheel in the final metres, and to hold off the charge from Pidcock behind him.

In a technical run-in to the line featuring lots of road furniture, some riders, including one of the favourites Cees Bol (DSM), fell out of contention after taking the wrong road.

Andrey Amador was leading the peloton for teammate Ineos Grenadiers in the final kilometre, and upon finishing his turn, peeled off the right.

Unbeknownst to him and the other riders behind him, this side of the barrier was cut off from the road to the finish, meaning none of them were able to contest for the sprint.

Meeus’ lead-out man Shane Archbold was one of those riders caught out, but the 24-year-old was able to forge his own path to the finish line and take victory.

Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar) retained the overall lead, but Tom Pidcock reduced his lead with the bonus seconds gained by finishing third.

How it unfolded
After the many climbs and constant undulations of yesterday’s stage, won by Gonzalo Serrano to become the new overall leader of the race, stage 5 was a flatter, more straightforward affair.

This was reflected by what was a conventional start to proceedings, with four riders getting up the road to form the day’s break, and the peloton easing up to give them a large gap of over five minutes.

Zeb Kyffin (Ribble Weldtite), Alessandro Iacchi (Qhubeka), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) and Matthew Teggart (WiV SunGod) were those four riders, with Iacchi the only rider within 20 minutes on GC, in 13th at 28 seconds.

Teggart had an interest in the King of the Mountains classification, and claimed maximum points over the category three climb at Kayworth tackled early in the stage, uncontested by the others.

And as leader of the sprints competition, Teggart also contested the intermediate sprint 100km from the finish, and won it ahead of Iacchi, whose effort earned him two bonus seconds.

Their lead over the peloton started to come down when other teams including Bora-Hansgrohe began to assist Movistar at the front of the peloton, and was back below three minutes with 100km to go.

With the gap now at a more manageable distance, the race settled into a holding pattern, with the peloton keeping the gap pegged at around two minutes.

The next intermediate sprint, 50km from the finish, was more hotly contested, as Kyffin went long in an attempt to win it. But Teggart closed him down, and once again was able to defeat Iacchi for the most bonus seconds.

The cohesion completely went out of the group in the aftermath of this sprint, as the riders each started attacking each other. Teggart and Iacchi in particular weren’t happy with each other, and marked each other while Kyffin and Nicolau rode away from them.

Resigned to their fate, Teggart and Iacchi sat up and were caught by the peloton 33km from the finish, leaving Kyffin and Nicolau as leaders of the race with a gap still hovering around two minutes.

With points in the mountains classification now available to the peloton due to the reduction in size of the break, leader of that competition Mathijs Paasschens (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB) sprinted to the top of Sparken Hill, 31km from the finish, and held off Jacob Scott (WiV SunGod) to extend his lead.

Paasschens and Scott continued riding together for a little white after the summit, staying clear long enough for the former to gain one second at the intermediate sprint 28km from the finish, but subsequently sat up and were reabsorbed by the peloton.

The peloton really began chasing in earnest around this time, with the likes of Ineos Grenadiers, DSM, Great Britain and Trinity Racing working at the front, and soon after the 20km to go point the lead came under one minute for the first time in a while.

With 10km to go, the catch was made, leaving it to the sprinters’ teams to negotiate the technical finale and deliver their men to the line.

Results :

Final General Classification :