It was savage on today's sixth stage of the Tour of Britain from Stoke-on-Trent to Nottingham, with the Irish on the wrong side of the carnage.
By Brian Canty
A race that will live long in the memory of anyone who rode it, today’s sixth stage of the Tour of Britain saw over half the peloton lose a staggering 45 minutes.
Three of the four Irish riders in the event crossed the line in that 75-rider group namely Eddie Dunbar (NFTO Pro Cycling), Ryan Mullen (Cannondale-Garmin) and Conor Dunne (An Post-Chainreaction).
Jack Wilson was listed as a non-finisher at the end of 192.7km from Stoke-on-Trent to Nottingham.
A furious pace from the drop of the flag saw the race break up early but the punishing terrain and strong crosswinds made it even more difficult as riders streamed out the back.
Advertisement
Some, including the experienced Steven Kruijswijk of Lotto-JumboNL, described it as one of the most difficult stages of his career while Christian Rasmus Quaade, riding for CULT Energy, echoed those sentiments.
“We hoped that a breakaway could go away so it would be easier but everybody wanted to have racing and it was just all day attacking and attacking,” said the latter.
Officially, all those in the group should have been ejected from the race as they were 11 minutes outside the time limit.
But with so many present - including Bradley Wiggins (Team WIGGINS) all will start tomorrow’s seventh stage in Fakenham.
Matteo Trentin of Etixx QuickStep won the stage in a sprint from Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Quebeka), who retained the race leader’s jersey and extended his advantage at the top of the standings to 13 seconds.
Team Sky rider Wout Poels is in second with former An Post Rás stage winner Rasmus Guldhammer (CULT Energy) in third, 30 seconds further back.
Related News
An Post-Chainreaction have Xandro Meurisse is 9th at 51 seconds and that’s a fine achievement by him, irrespective of what happens now.
Tomorrow’s stage takes the riders on a relatively-flat 227-kilometre course to Ipswich from Fakenham.
There are three categorised climbs and because all four riders ahead of Irishman Conor Dunne in the KOH classification were with him today, he still remains fifth overall.
To move up he will need to take points on at least two of those climbs and hope the four ahead of him don’t score.
Stage 5: Stoke-on-Trent – Nottingham (192.7km)
1. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx-Quick Step, 4-45-27
2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka, st
3. Owain Doull (GBr) Team Wiggins, at 4s
4. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick-Step
5. Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto-Soudal
6. Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Garmin
7. Alex Peters (GBr) Great Britain
8. Dylan Theuns (Bel) BMC
9. Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An Post-Chain Reaction
10. Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky, all same time
39. Ryan Mullen (IRL) Garmin-Cannondale, at 45:47
59. Eddie Dunbar (IRL) NFTO, at s/t
89. Conor Dunne (IRL) An Post Chain Reaction, at s/t
Jack Wilson (IRL) An Post Chain Reaction, DNF
General Classification
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka, in 27-47-54
2. Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky, at 13s
3. Rasmus Guldhammer (Den) Cult Energy, at 43s
4. Owain Doull (GBr) Team Wiggins, at 44s
5. Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC, at 51s
6. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx – Quick-Step
7. Ruben Fernandez (Esp) Movistar
8. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
9. Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An Post-Chain Reaction
10. Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo, all same time
60. Eddie Dunbar (IRL) NFTO, at 1:11:36
61. Ryan Mullen (IRL) Garmin-Cannondale, at 1:12:00
100. Conor Dunne (IRL) An Post Chain Reaction, 1:32:53
Topics
