Tour of Britain

Rabobank’s Lars Boom is looking good for overall honours.

Stage 6: Taunton – Wells 150km

The An Post-Sean Kelly team may have slipped up today on GC in the Tour of Britain but some useful teamwork by the Irish-Belgian outfit means its Belgian rider Pieter Ghyllebert is now out of sight in the lead of the sprints classification.

When a lead group of 21 riders went clear over the last climb of the day just 16 miles from the finish, and survived to contest the sprint into Wells, it did not contain any An Post riders or Irish national champion Matt Brammeier (HTC-Highroad).

That meant An Post’s Andrew Fenn – who was today named in the U23 British team for the World Championships next week – lost 1:24 and slipped down the GC by two places to 15^th.

However his team mate Mark McNally managed to get himself into an early breakaway today from which he won two of the day’s three sprints and placed second in the other.

It meant he mopped up a large number of points in the sprint classification, ensuring nobody was able to challenge Ghyllebert’s lead in that competition.

Yellow jersey Lars Boom (Rabobank) was in the lead group today and took the stage win, thus consolidating his place at the head of the general classification.

With just a flat stage tomorrow followed by a short time trial and criterium in London on Sunday, the Dutchman is looking good for overall honours.

Stage 6: Result

1 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 3:19:02

2 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Team Europcar

3 Leopold Koenig (Cze) Team Netapp

4 Jan Barta (Cze) Team Netapp

5 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Sky Procycling

6 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Leopard Trek

7 Jack Bauer (NZl) Endura Racing

8 Julian Dean (NZl) Team Garmin-Cervelo

9 Bartosz Huzarski (Pol) Team Netapp

10 Iker Camano (Spa) Endura Racing

11 Russell Hampton (GBr) Sigma Sport – Specialized

12 Michael Rogers (Aus) Sky Procycling

13 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator

14 Jonathan Tiernan Locke (GBr) Rapha Condor – Sharp

15 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator

16 Daniel Lloyd (GBr) Team Garmin-Cervelo

17 Simon Richardson (GBr) Sigma Sport – Specialized

18 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Leopard Trek

19 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Team Europcar

20 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Team Europcar

24 Matt Brammeier (Irl) HTC-Highroad 1:24

29 Ronan McLaughlin (Irl) An Post – Sean Kelly     

37 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) An Post – Sean Kelly     

39 Andrew Fenn (GBr) An Post – Sean Kelly     

74 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) An Post – Sean Kelly     

77 Mark McNally (GBr) An Post – Sean Kelly 0:08:52   

81 Mark Cassidy (Irl) An Post – Sean Kelly     

Sprint 1 – Langport 12.2 miles

1 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 5  pts

2 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) An Post – Sean Kelly 3   

3 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Sky Procycling 2

4 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) HTC-Highroad 1

Sprint 2 – Cheddar 50.9 miles

1 Mark McNally (GBr) An Post – Sean Kelly 5  pts 

2 Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling 3

3 Lars Bak (Den) HTC-Highroad 2

4 Paul Voss (Ger) Endura Racing 1

Sprint 3 – Wells 71.8 miles

1 Mark McNally (GBr) An Post – Sean Kelly 5  pts 

2 Paul Voss (Ger) Endura Racing 3

3 Lars Bak (Den) HTC-Highroad 2

4 Rik Flens (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 1

Mountain 2 – Cheddar Gorge (Cat 1) 54.2miles

1 Lars Bak (Den) HTC-Highroad 10  pts

2 Mark McNally (GBr) An Post – Sean Kelly 9   

3 Paul Voss (Ger) Endura Racing 8

General classification 

1 Lars Boom Rabobank  20:13:18

2 Leopold Koenig (Cze) Team Netapp 0:00:28

3 Daniel Lloyd (GBr) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:00:29

4 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Leopard Trek 0:00:31

5 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:00:32

6 Jelle Wallays (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator

7 Jan Barta (Cze) Team Netapp

8 Jonathan Tiernan Locke (GBr) Rapha Condor – Sharp

9 Iker Camano (Spa) Endura Racing 0:00:50

10 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Leopard Trek 0:00:52

11 Michael Rogers (Aus) Sky Procycling 0:00:56

12 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:01:49

13 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:01:51

14 Jan-Bert Lindeman (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:01:54

15 Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:01:56

16 Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad 0:02:11

17 Andrew Fenn (GBr) An Post – Sean Kelly     

18 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:02:14

19 Dominic Klemme (Ger) Leopard Trek 0:02:16

20 Dan Craven (Nam) Rapha Condor – Sharp 0:02:25

48 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) An Post – Sean Kelly     10:58

58 Ronan McLaughlin (Irl) An Post – Sean Kelly 0:14:28   

59 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) An Post – Sean Kelly 0:14:30   

75 Matt Brammeier (Irl) HTC-Highroad 0:16:57   

77 Mark McNally (GBr) An Post – Sean Kelly 0:17:34   

82 Mark Cassidy (Irl) An Post – Sean Kelly 0:25:32   

Points classification 

1 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 52  pts

2 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling 41

3 Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad 40

11 Andrew Fenn (GBr) An Post – Sean Kelly 17   

Sprint classification 

1 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) An Post – Sean Kelly 36  pts 

2 Russell Hampton (GBr) Sigma Sport – Specialized 13

3 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 11

4 Mark McNally (GBr) An Post – Sean Kelly 10   

5 Andrew Fenn (GBr) An Post – Sean Kelly 10   

27 Mark Cassidy (Irl) An Post – Sean Kelly 1   

Mountains classification 

1 Jonathan Tiernan Locke (GBr) Rapha Condor – Sharp 71  pts

2 Russell Hampton (GBr) Sigma Sport – Specialized 48

3 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Sky Procycling 30

7 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) An Post – Sean Kelly 19   

13 Andrew Fenn (GBr) An Post – Sean Kelly 12   

16 Mark McNally (GBr) An Post – Sean Kelly 9   

33 Ronan McLaughlin (Irl) An Post – Sean Kelly 3