Ongoing race leader Lars Boom was expected to come under attack towards the end of the Tour of Britain, with Sky Procycling being particularly keen to try to wrest the yellow jersey off the shoulders of the big Dutchman. However the Rabobank rider responded in the best possible fashion, winning today’s stage and, thanks to the time bonus, further extending his lead.
Boom reached the line ahead of Alexandre Pichot (Europcar) and Leopold Konig (Team NettApp), with Steve Cummings being Sky’s best rider in fifth. Their big GC contender Geraint Thomas had a day that he’d rather forget, crashing earlier in the stage and missing the split. He finished 25th, one minute 24 seconds back, and dropped from second down to twelfth. At one minute 49 seconds behind Boom, his chances are now gone.
Instead, Konig is now the closest challenger. Three stages in two days remain, including Sunday morning’s time trial, and he has 28 seconds to make up. Garmin-Cervélo rider Dan Lloyd, who is thought to be searching for a contract for 2012, is one second further back, with Linus Gerdemann (Leopard Trek) and Cummings also close by.
Boom is increasingly confident, and enjoyed taking his second stage win of the race. “It was a difficult stage; there were four guys, one was at 48 seconds, so we kept close to them. My guys worked really hard, they are so strong, I am really thankful. They worked so hard for me today, and for the rest of the last climb there were attacks from other riders and there was a small group going.
“In the last 20 kilometres there were attacks for the points at the King of the Mountains, and some attacks from (Steve) Cummings and (Michael) Rogers. They went pretty hard I think, but I could keep the wheel and it was okay. After that there were a lot of guys for Garmin, and a lot of other guys that were pulling for the GC guys. I made an advantage of that and I’m really happy with the win.”
One factor he said that helped him in judging his effort was that the peloton had two passes over the finish. The first was the third Yodel bonus sprint of the day, 115.5 kilometres after the start in Taunton and 30.5 kilometres from the final gallop into Wells.
“We passed the finish one time so I saw the last corner…that it was the last 200m to go afterwards. Gabriel Rasch and Julian Dean went too hard in the last corner, and I took the corner perfectly I think, and from there nobody else was going to win.”
Thomas had started the day just twelve seconds back and was trying to pick up some bonus seconds in the first intermediate sprint at Langport, 19.6 kilometres into the stage. However he was one of several riders who hit the deck, with Ian Bibby (Motorpoint) being the worst off. He had started the day sixth overall and best-placed of the British-based riders, but sustained a fractured collarbone and had to drop out of the race.
Sky Procycling directeur sportif Sean Yates said afterwards that the team had hoped for a very different outcome to the day. “That wasn’t in the plan. G [Geraint] is a bit cut up after his crash but he is okay,” he stated on the team’s website.
“He was going for the first sprint at kilometre 12. We knew it was going to be a fast one and they were going for it so not a good time to hit the deck. It was lucky I guess that it wasn’t a lot worse given the speed. When you hit the ground going almost 70k an hour you can do a lot of damage. But obviously that hindered him for the rest of the stage.
“Ben [Swift] got in that breakaway and, Rabobank chased hard building up towards the final. G couldn’t quite hang on over the climb and that was that. It’s unfortunate but that’s life.”
He said that the team priority now was to try to help Cummings improve from fifth overall. The team will also aim for a stage win before the race ends on Sunday afternoon.
Break goes, but doesn’t get much space:
As has been the case on the other stages this week, a break went early on and mopped up some of the sprint and climb points on offer. The move didn’t however go until after the first Yodel prime, where Boom boosted his lead by reaching the line first and Thomas, Bibby and several others crashed.
The breakaway quartet were Ben Swift (Sky Procycling), Paul Voss (Endura), Mark McNally (An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) and Lars Bak (HTC-Highroad), and these pulled hard together to try to open a big lead. The peloton kept things close, though, making it tough for them to establish any sort of comfortable gap.
They were caught soon after crossing the finish line at that third intermediate sprint, and the climb of Old Bristol Hill then broke things up and enabled the decisive split to happen. Boom profited most, winning the stage and extending his lead at the top.
He’s growing in confidence, and is starting to believe that he can win the race. “My team mates are very strong and are going to work tomorrow, maybe with some of the sprinters’ teams,” he said. “I am confident for the time trial – that is one of my favourite disciplines, so I am confident. But anything can happen, so I will try my best tomorrow. We will be alright, I think.”
[more to follow soon]