Canadian Cyclist

 

May 1/15 14:33 pm - Tour of Yorkshire: Stage 1


Posted by Editoress on 05/1/15
 

Lars Petter Nordhaug claimed what he said felt like a “home victory” for his Sky team in front of massive crowds on day one of the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire. Rain and a peril-strewn route through the North Yorkshire Moors had wreaked havoc earlier in the stage, with star attractions Ben Swift and Marcel Kittel both forced to abandon. Nordhaug will start tomorrow's theoretically more straightforward stage to York in the race leader's blue jersey and with a four-second advantage over Thomas Voeckler on general classification thanks to time bonuses. 

Party of five
Bright, cold and breezy weather greeted the 140 riders representing 18 teams and 22 countries at the start-line in Bridlington. The first meaningful break of the day formed after 21 kilometres and comprised Mark Christian (WGN), Loïc Chetout (FRA), Eddie Dunbar (IRL), Mark Stewart (MGT) and Rasmus Quaade (CLT). These five riders would stay together for 75 kilometres and build a maximum lead of just under five minutes before a peloton led by Team Sky gradually clawed back their deficit. The five would be reabsorbed at the foot of the Côte de Rosedale Abbey after 91 kilometres.

Kittel's misery and a Swift exit
The hostilities recommenced with an attack from Pierrick Quéméneur (EUC) in Danby with 68 kilometres to go. The Europcar rider was soon joined by Tim Declercq of Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise (TSV), and that pair quickly built a lead of 40 seconds. Meanwhile, at the other end of the race, Marcel Kittel (TGA) was enduring a miserable time as rain started falling on the North York Moors. Dropped earlier on the Côte de Rosedale Abbey, Kittel had battled on for 20 kilometres but now decided to end his Tour de Yorkshire with just under 70 kilometres to go.

Kittel's would be the first of several notable withdrawals. Many of them resulted from crashes on a slippery descent in Egton 53 kilometres from home. One of the two leaders, Declercq, overshot a right-hand bend and went straight on into a hedge. In the peloton, one of the pre-race favourites, Ben Swift, tumbled on the same, treacherous downhill section and would follow Kittel into the broom wagon.

Snakes and ladders
Declercq's slip left Quéméneur alone at the head of the race, with his advantage holding at around 45 seconds over the Côte de Grosmont, with 50 kilometres to go. Confusion in the main bunch briefly allowed the Frenchman to extend his lead to over a minute, until Anthony Turgis (COF) and George Harper (ONE) countered and, behind that pair, the peloton slowly began to regroup. Quéméneur still took full points on the penultimate classified climb of the day, the Côte de Briggswath after 130km, ensuring that he will wear the King of the Mountains jersey on Saturday.

Decisive moves
On the uphill drag out of Whitby, with just under 40 kilometres still to ride, the peloton finally swept up Quéméneur. Now the serious attacks began: a fifteen-man lead group starring, among others, Samuel Sanchez (BMC), Philip Deignan (SKY), Lars Petter Nordhaug (SKY), David Lopez (SKY), Thomas Voeckler (EUC) came together, leaving the MTN-Qhubeka pair of Janse Van Rensburg and Stephen Cummings caught in no man's land with BMC's Greg Van Avermaet. Van Avermaet and Cummings caught the leaders only in time for a further selection to occur on the Côte de Robin Hood's Bay after 145 kilometres. Near the top of the climb, the lead group shattered under pressure from Deignan, with the Irishman dragging four other riders clear over the summit: his team-mate Nordhaug, Voeckler, Stéphane Rossetto (COF) and Sanchez. This quintet immediately built a lead of 20 seconds over a nine-man chase group - and had extended the gap to over a minute by the time they reached Scarborough.

Sky's power in numbers
Team Sky sought to make their numerical advantage pay by unleashing Nordhaug with 5 kilometres to go, then, when the Norwegian was caught, by trying with Deignan 2.5 kilometres from the line, again to no avail. The attacks and counters continued until the five leaders rode under the red kite together. At the 300-metre-to-go mark, Sanchez launched his sprint into the headwind gusting down the promenade, but was comfortably overhauled by Rossetto, who in turn couldn't hold off Nordhaug.

Report by ASO

Stage 1: Bridlington - Scarborough (174,0 km)
1 Lars-Petter Nordhaug (Team Sky) 4:22:38
2 Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar)
3 Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
4 Samuel Sanchez (BMC Racing Team)
5 Philip Deignan (Team Sky) all s.t.
6 Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) 1:10
7 Anthony Turgis (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
8 Erick Rowsell (Madison Genesis)
9 Richard Handley (JLT Condor)
10 Huub Duijn (Roompot Oranje Peloton) all s.t.
11 Ben Hermans (BMC Racing Team) 1:13
12 David Lopez Garcia (Team Sky)
13 Merhawi Kudus Ghebremedhin (MTN-Qhubeka)
14 Scott Davies (Great Britain)
15 Stephen Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka) all s.t.
16 Russell Downing (Cult Energy Pro Cycling) 2:21
17 Thomas Sprengers (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
18 Joseph Rosskopf (BMC Racing Team)
19 Karol Domagalski (Team Raleigh GAC)
20 Julien Simon (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
21 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (MTN-Qhubeka)
22 Steven Lampier (Team Raleigh GAC)
23 Mike Teunissen (Team Lotto Nl - Jumbo)
24 Alex Kirsch (Cult Energy Pro Cycling)
25 Perrig Quemeneur (Team Europcar)
26 Salvatore Puccio (Team Sky) all s.t.
27 Gustav Larsson (Cult Energy Pro Cycling) 2:23
28 Lars Van Der Haar (Team Giant-Alpecin) 3:39
29 Thomas Boudat (Team Europcar)
30 Morgan Kneisky (Team Raleigh GAC)
31 Moreno Hofland (Team Lotto Nl - Jumbo)
32 Otto Vergaerde (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
33 Gabriel Cullaigh (Great Britain)
34 Marcin Bialoblocki (One Pro Cycling)
35 Jesper Asselman (Roompot Oranje Peloton)
36 Robert Partridge (NFTO)
37 Berden De Vries (Roompot Oranje Peloton)
38 Joel Zangerle (Cult Energy Pro Cycling)
39 Nick Van Der Lijke (Team Lotto Nl - Jumbo)
40 Pieter Van Speybrouck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
41 Steele Von Hoff (NFTO)
42 Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
43 George Harper (One Pro Cycling)
44 Kristian House (JLT Condor)
45 Martin Mortensen (Cult Energy Pro Cycling)
46 Vicente Reynes (IAM Cycling)
47 Joshua Edmondson (Great Britain)
48 Yannick Martinez (Team Europcar)
49 Michael Thompson (Team Wiggins)
50 Loïc Chetout (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
51 Romain Hardy (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
52 Karel Hnik (Cult Energy Pro Cycling)
53 Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka)
54 Simon Pellaud (IAM Cycling)
55 Tom Stamsnijder (Team Giant-Alpecin)
56 Klaas Lodewyck (BMC Racing Team)
57 Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC Racing Team)
58 Nicolas Edet (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
59 Michael Cuming (JLT Condor)
60 Thomas Degand (IAM Cycling)
61 Mike Northey (Madison Genesis)
62 Tom Stewart (Madison Genesis)
63 Jonathan Mc Evoy (NFTO)
64 Patrick Schelling (IAM Cycling)
65 Ian Bibby (NFTO)
66 Liam Holohan (Madison Genesis)
67 Mark Christian (Team Wiggins) all s.t.
68 Owain Doull (Team Wiggins) 7:10
69 Tom Scully (Madison Genesis)
70 Yanto Barker (One Pro Cycling) both s.t.
71 Nicolas Dougall (MTN-Qhubeka) 13:57
72 Harry Tanfield (JLT Condor)
73 Iain Paton (Team Wiggins)
74 Evan Oliphant (Team Raleigh GAC)
75 Peter Williams (One Pro Cycling) all s.t.
76 Lawson Craddock (Team Giant-Alpecin) 14:41
77 Rasmus Christian Quaade (Cult Energy Pro Cycling)
78 Stijn Steels (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) both s.t.
79 Matt Brammeier (MTN-Qhubeka) 14:52
80 Luke Grivell-Mellor (JLT Condor)
81 Bradley Morgan (Team Raleigh GAC)
82 Rick Zabel (BMC Racing Team)
83 Ramon Sinkeldam (Team Giant-Alpecin)
84 Cyril Gautier (Team Europcar)
85 Tobyn Horton (Madison Genesis)
86 Maarten Wynants (Team Lotto Nl - Jumbo)
87 Jonas Van Genechten (IAM Cycling)
88 Bert De Backer (Team Giant-Alpecin)
89 James Mclaughlin (Madison Genesis)
90 Robert Wagner (Team Lotto Nl - Jumbo)
91 Sondre Holst Enger (IAM Cycling)
92 Jake Kelly (Great Britain)
93 Dan Craven (Team Europcar)
94 Josh Hunt (One Pro Cycling)
95 Christopher Lawless (Team Wiggins)
96 Bradley Wiggins (Team Wiggins)
97 Nathan Earle (Team Sky)
98 Oliver Wood (Great Britain)
99 Ian Boswell (Team Sky)
100 Andrew Tennant (Team Wiggins)
101 Tony Hurel (Team Europcar) all s.t.
102 Dexter Gardias (One Pro Cycling) 0:16:40
103 Ivar Slik (Roompot Oranje Peloton)
104 James Lowsley-Williams (NFTO)
105 André Looij (Roompot Oranje Peloton)
106 Dylan Groenewegen (Roompot Oranje Peloton)
107 Andreas Stauff (MTN-Qhubeka)
108 Etienne Van Empel (Roompot Oranje Peloton)
109 Tom Barras (NFTO)
110 Timo Roosen (Team Lotto Nl - Jumbo)
111 Andrew Hawden (Team Raleigh GAC)
112 Amaury Capiot (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
 
114 Giovanni Bernaudeau (Team Europcar)
115 Barry Markus (Team Lotto Nl - Jumbo)
116 Wesley Kreder (Roompot Oranje Peloton)
117 Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling)
118 Dale Appleby (NFTO)
119 Calvin Beneke (Team Raleigh GAC)
120 Ian Wilkinson (Team Raleigh GAC) all s.t.
121 Christopher Latham (Great Britain) 16:43
122 Moreno De Pauw (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
123 Steven Kruijswijk (Team Lotto Nl - Jumbo)
124 Mark Mcnally (Madison Genesis)
125 Thomas Moses (JLT Condor)
126 Edward Clancy (JLT Condor)
127 Germain Burton (Great Britain)
128 Mark Stewart (Great Britain)
129 Christopher Sutton (Team Sky)
130 Chris Opie (One Pro Cycling)
131 Marc Hester (One Pro Cycling)
132 Graham Briggs (JLT Condor) all s.t.
DNF Steven Burke (Team Wiggins)
DNF Ben Swift (Team Sky)
DNF Marcel Kittel (Team Giant-Alpecin)
DNF Jonas Rickaert (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
DNF Yoann Bagot (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
DN FRomain Lemarchand (Cult Energy Pro Cycling)
DNF Eddie Dunbar (NFTO)
DNS Caleb Fairly (Team Giant-Alpecin)


 

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