Showing winning form a week and a half before the defence of his world road race championship title, Garmin-Cervélo’s Thor Hushovd powered to victory on today’s fourth stage of the Tour of Britain. The big Norwegian was part of a large group which went clear on the tough Caerphilly Mountain and proved quickest in the battle for stage honours.
He beat overall leader Lars Boom (Rabobank) and Cesare Benedetti (Team NetApp) to the line in Caerphilly, with Boom taking a time bonus for second and fortifying his lead. Stage one winner Mark Cavendish came home in a group 20 seconds back and dropped from second place overall to 19th, 40 seconds down.
Another strong British rider, Geraint Thomas, is now Boom’s closest rival, although his 12 second deficit will require some work to close in the days ahead. Boy Van Poppel (UnitedHeathcare), the son of former Tour de France green jersey Jean Paul Van Poppel, is two seconds further back in third place overall.
“I'm a little bit disappointed that I got second behind Hushovd, but he's a good winner of course,” Boom said afterwards. “The rest of the team was strong today and did their job. I'm really happy with the team.
“We tried to let a breakaway of three guys go and give them five or six minutes so Sky had to try to chase down the guys for the win for Thomas. That was the main goal and I think we succeeded in that.
“We controlled the race and we know that in the end they (Sky) try to do something for sure on the longer climb and the shorter climb too. They wanted to win the stage and the race. Thomas lives here so he tried his best today.”
Ian Bibby (Motorpoint) is sitting just off the podium positions in fourth overall and is riding impressively well. The leading British-based rider is level on time with the likes of Linus Gerdemann (Leopard Trek), Dan Lloyd (Garmin-Cervélo) and Steve Cummings (Sky Procycling), and will take encouragement from his performances thus far.
As was the case on the previous stages of the race, today’s 183.7 kilometre leg once again saw an early break go clear soon after the start in Welshpool and build a solid lead. The aggressors on this occasion were sprint jersey leader Pieter Ghyllebert (An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly, Jack Bauer (Endura Racing) and former British road race champion Kristian House (Rapha Condor Sharp), who became race leader on the road during their move.
Hard chasing from Sky Procycling and Leopard Trek brought the advantage down again and reeled in the breakaway trio inside the final ten kilometres. Aggressive racing on the tough climb of Caerphilly Mountain then shook up the race, forcing a number of splits and paving the way for a 24 man group fighting for the stage honours.
Hushovd fared best in both the tussle for positions and the final burst, powering home to show that his pre-worlds form is good, despite not being selected for the Vuelta. He, like Cavendish, will hope that the British event gives him the final tune-up before a strong performance in Copenhagen.
Tomorrow’s stage covers 180 kilometres between Exeter and Exmouthand, the riders clashing over three categorised climbs plus some very undulating terrain.
Early break shares the workload and the spoils
Day four of the British tour started at Powis Castle, where a good crowd turned out to see the riders. After a few short-lived attacks the break of the day moved clear inside the first ten kilometres of racing and by the time they reached the first Yodel intermediate sprint at Newtown (km 23.7), Jack Bauer (Endura Racing), former British champ Kristian House (Rapha Condor Sharp) and Pieter Ghyllebert were a solid 1 minute 20 seconds clear.
An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly rider Ghyllebert had strong motivation for being in the move, given that he was the sprints competition leader, and he reinforced his points advantage when he took that first sprint.
The break continued to grow and Ghyllebert once again was first to the prime line at the second Yodel sprint in Llandrindod Wells (km 67.9). As was the case in gallop one, Bauer and House were second and third, while Ghyllebert’s team-mate Andy Fenn again mopped up the points for fourth, preventing other riders in the bunch from challenging.
Heading into the feed zone (km 93.5), the gap was up to four minutes 40 seconds. After the category two climb of Llyswen Hill (km 100.3), where Bauer reached the top ahead of House and Ghyllebert, the gap soared to its maximum of 5 minutes 40 seconds. However between there and the start of the cat. 1 climb of Brecon Beacons, the Sky Procycling team ramped up the pace and started eating away at this advantage.
Aggressive racing on the latter climb saw the bunch just 2 minutes 50 seconds behind Bauer,House and Ghyllebert, with mountains leader Russell Hampton (Sigma Sport-Specialized) and Jonathan Tiernan Locke (Rapha Condor Sharp) next over the top, 126.2 kilometres into the stage. Leopard Trek then turned the screw, driving up the speed and bringing the gap down by a minute.
The Rabobank team of race leader Theo Boss and the HTC Highroad squad of Mark Cavendish took over, reducing the gap to a minute and a half with 144 kilometres covered. They realised it was too soon, though, and in backing off the break went back out to two minutes at the third Yodel sprint of the day, where Ghyllebert further bolstered his jersey by finishing ahead of Bauer and House.
The gap had rise on almost two and a half minutes but the bunch accelerated again and cut it to one and a half minutes with 20 kilometres to go. Ten kilometres later, the peloton had all but eliminated the lead and did so after a last-gasp attack by House was nullified.
Heading up Caerphilly Mountain, the final Skoda climb of the day, the torturous slopes kicked in and splintered the peloton. Sky Procycling’s Steve Cummings and Tiernan Locke attacked and were joined by three others, but they were then caught by Boom and several more chasers.
Tiernan Locke and Cummings led over the summit anyway, ahead of Leopold Konig (NetApp), and then the riders sped down the descent towards the finish. A total of 24 riders fought it out for the win in Caerphilly, with world champion Thor Hushovd showing his pre-Copenhagen strength by easily taking the sprint.
Boom and Benedetti were next, while the former’s previously-closest rival Cavendish dropped down the GC after losing time. Thomas placed 11th on the stage and moved to second overall; he and his Sky Procycling team will aim to hit Boom hard in the days ahead, knowing the Dutchman could gain time in Sunday morning’s TT.
The two are also first and second overall in the points standings, while Ghyllebert has a clear lead in the sprints classification and Hampton is seven points clear of Tiernan-Locke in the battle for the mountains jersey.