Irish round off excellent Tour of Britain; An Post duo get up in Guildford

Ronan McLaughlin was like the Duracell bunny again in the opening miles today (Photo: www.velouk.net)

By Gavin McLoughlin

An excellent Tour of Britain for the Irish contingent concluded in front of massive crowds on the cobbles of Guildford today, Sunday.

Powerful Lithuanian national champion Gediminas Bagdonas and 21-year-old Belgian Niels Wytinck were the prominent members of the An Post-Sean Kelly team as the Irish outfit continued to animate the race.

Both men launched attacks in the day’s final kilometres but were cruelly swallowed up by a peloton well-marshalled by the powerhouses of Team Sky. Ireland’s Ronan McLaughlin had been in the thick of it in the opening miles, attacking hard in an effort to make it into the early breakaway.

His An Post team mate Pieter Ghyllebert later positioned himself well to vigorously contest the final sprint, coming across the line in 7th place while Wytinck summoned up the energy to drag himself to the front of affairs once more to grab 9th.

This race has been exceptionally well-supported by the British public, and today was no different as heaps of spectators turned out at the morning’s departure in Reigate to bid the peloton farewell.

An early breakaway consisting of Peter Williams (Node4-Giordana), Jack Bobridge (Orica-GreenEdge), Simon Richardson (IG-Sigma Sport) and Wesley Kreder (Vacansoleil-DCM) was established, but their advantage would never rise above two and a half minutes with the massed ranks of Sky and Endura Racing vigilant on the front of the peloton.

Perhaps the most entertaining event of the day was when Endura Racing directeur sportif Brian Smith was forced to leap out of his vehicle and frantically wave the peloton to a halt as a level-crossing loomed.

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Thankfully, deliverance arrived when Team NetApp suddenly upped the pace at the foot of the Barhatch Lane climb and shattered the race to bits with some 45 kilometres remaining. The men up front were quickly reeled in and a group containing race leader Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Endura Racing) and rivals went clear, before a trio of Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Jack Bobridge (Orica-GreenEdge) and Liam Holohan (Raleigh-GAC) jumped away.

Bobridge would launch a long-range strike for glory with 30 kilometres to go, but the Australian tired quickly and Team Sky patiently allowed him to dangle as they re-established order in an attempt to position world champion Mark Cavendish for victory.

Strong digs would come from the aforementioned Bagdonas and Wytinck as well as Euskaltel’s Pablo Urtasun, but that familiar premonition of inevitable Cavendish triumph was realised as the Manx Missile kicked away in the last 250 metres for a comfortable win. Present and correct in the bunch was Tiernan-Locke, who becomes the first home winner of the Tour of Britain in its current guise of the past nine years. He is the first home winner of a British national tour since Chris Lillywhite won the Milk Race way back in 1993.

Tiernan-Locke is said to be destined for the more glamorous pastures of Team Sky next season.

The three Irish riders in the field leave the race with considerable credit. Carrick-on-Suir sprinter Sam Bennett (An Post-Sean Kelly) collected three top-ten stage finishes before withdrawing as a precaution so as not to aggravate a knee injury. He competes at the U23 World Championships next weekend.

Belfast’s Peter Hawkins (Team IG-Sigma Sport) was the winner of the combativity prize for stage 3 after spending the day in a long breakaway and also took two top ten finishes on stages.

Ronan McLaughlin collected the combativity prize on stage 4, and was also away in the lead groups on stages 4 and 7. The Donegal rider’s week was topped off with the news yesterday that he has been selected for the Irish team for the elite men’s World Road Race Championships next Sunday.

Stage 8: Reigate to Guildford

Position	Rider	Team		Time
1	Mark Cavendish	Sky Procycling		3h 33' 5''
2	Boy Van Poppel	UnitedHealthcare		st
3	Fabio Sabatini	Liquigas – Cannondale		st
4	Russell Downing	Endura Racing		st
5	Cesare Benedetti	Team NetApp	at	0' 3''
6	Yanto Barker	UK Youth Cycling		st
7	Pieter Ghyllebert	An Post Sean Kelly		st
8	Bernard Sulzberger	Raleigh – GAC		st
9	Niels Wytinck	An Post Sean Kelly		st
10	Richard Lang	Rapha Condor		st
11	Nathan Haas	Garmin - Sharp		st
12	Paul Voss	Endura Racing		st
13	Daniel Lloyd	IG - Sigma Sport		st
14	Gediminas Bagdonas	An Post Sean Kelly		st
15	Simon Yates	Great Britain		st
16	Adrian Saez de Arregui	Euskaltel Euskadi		st
17	Marcin Bialoblocki	Node 4 - Giordana		st
18	Damiano Caruso	Liquigas - Cannondale		st
19	Jonathan Tiernan-Locke	Endura Racing		st
20	Bartosz Huzarski	Team NetApp		st
21	Graham Briggs	Raleigh - GAC		st
22	David Lelay	Saur Sojasun		st
23	David Clarke	Node 4 - Giordana		st
24	Ricardo Garcia	Euskaltel Euskadi		st
25	Peter Hawkins	IG - Sigma Sport		st
26	Jan Barta	Team NetApp		st
27	Pierre Cazaux	Euskaltel Euskadi		st
28	Christopher Jones	UnitedHealthcare		st
29	Jacek Morajko	Vacansoleil - DCM		st
30	Leigh Howard	Orica - GreenEDGE		st
31	Ben Grenda	Rapha Condor		st
32	Matthias Krizek	Liquigas - Cannondale		st
33	Leopold Koenig	Team NetApp		st
34	Josh Edmondson	Great Britain		st
35	Yannick Talabardon	Saur Sojasun		st
36	Niklas Gustavsson	UK Youth Cycling	at	0' 12''
37	David McGowan	UK Youth Cycling		st
38	Luke Rowe	Sky Procycling		st
39	Jerome Coppel	Saur Sojasun		st
40	Wesley Kreder	Vacansoleil - DCM		st
41	Peter Williams	Node 4 - Giordana		st
42	Sep Vanmarcke	Garmin - Sharp		st
43	Steele Von Hoff	Garmin - Sharp		st
44	Christian Knees	Sky Procycling		st
45	Christopher Jennings	Rapha Condor		st
46	Marco Benfatto	Liquigas - Cannondale		st
47	Samuel Sanchez	Euskaltel Euskadi		st
48	Pablo Urtasun	Euskaltel Euskadi		st
49	Evan Oliphant	Raleigh - GAC	at	0' 19''
50	Marc De Maar	UnitedHealthcare	at	0' 21''
51	Ivan Basso	Liquigas - Cannondale	at	0' 25''
52	Tom Last	IG - Sigma Sport		st
53	Robert Förster	UnitedHealthcare	at	0' 27''
54	Jacob Rathe	Garmin - Sharp	at	0' 30''
55	Ronan Mclaughlin	An Post Sean Kelly	at	0' 39''
56	Liam Holohan	Raleigh - GAC	at	0' 48''
57	Aidis Kruopis	Orica - GreenEDGE	at	0' 58''
58	Owain Doull	Great Britain		st
59	Simon Richardson	IG - Sigma Sport	at	0' 59''
60	Kristian House	Rapha Condor	at	1' 9''
61	Jonny Clarke	UnitedHealthcare		st
62	Jeremy Hunt	Sky Procycling	at	1' 24''
63	Ian Bibby	Endura Racing	at	1' 55''
64	Jonathan McEvoy	Endura Racing		st
65	Bernhard Eisel	Sky Procycling	at	2' 17''
66	Jack Bobridge	Orica - GreenEDGE	at	4' 15''
67	George Atkins	Great Britain	at	10' 41''
68	Christofer Stevenson	UK Youth Cycling		st
69	Magnus Backstedt	UK Youth Cycling		st
70	Daniel Schorn	Team NetApp		st
71	Alistair Slater	Great Britain		st
72	Barry Markus	Vacansoleil - DCM		st
73	Tom Moses	Great Britain		st
74	Mathew Cronshaw	Node 4 - Giordana		st
75	Michael Hepburn	Orica - GreenEDGE	at	13' 55''
76	Dan Craven	IG - Sigma Sport		st

General Classification

Position	Rider	Team		Time
1	Jonathan Tiernan-Locke	Endura Racing		9h 11' 22''
2	Nathan Haas	Garmin - Sharp	at	0' 18''
3	Damiano Caruso	Liquigas - Cannondale	at	0' 23''
4	Leigh Howard	Orica - GreenEDGE	at	1' 2''
5	Christopher Jones	UnitedHealthcare	at	1' 12''
6	Bartosz Huzarski	Team NetApp	at	2' 1''
7	David Lelay	Saur Sojasun		st
8	Boy Van Poppel	UnitedHealthcare	at	2' 14''
9	Christian Knees	Sky Procycling	at	2' 35''
10	Jerome Coppel	Saur Sojasun	at	4' 30''
11	Leopold Koenig	Team NetApp	at	4' 52''
12	David Clarke	Node 4 - Giordana	at	4' 54''
13	Paul Voss	Endura Racing	at	5' 43''
14	Samuel Sanchez	Euskaltel Euskadi	at	6' 2''
15	Pierre Cazaux	Euskaltel Euskadi	at	6' 15''
16	Josh Edmondson	Great Britain		st
17	Jacek Morajko	Vacansoleil - DCM	at	6' 20''
18	Luke Rowe	Sky Procycling	at	7' 13''
19	Ivan Basso	Liquigas - Cannondale	at	7' 33''
20	Yannick Talabardon	Saur Sojasun	at	7' 37''
21	Yanto Barker	UK Youth Cycling	at	11' 10''
22	Richard Lang	Rapha Condor	at	12' 22''
23	Bernard Sulzberger	Raleigh - GAC	at	12' 58''
24	Jan Barta	Team NetApp	at	13' 2''
25	Marcin Bialoblocki	Node 4 - Giordana	at	13' 34''
26	Steele Von Hoff	Garmin - Sharp	at	13' 48''
27	Gediminas Bagdonas	An Post Sean Kelly	at	14' 26''
28	Marc De Maar	UnitedHealthcare	at	16' 43''
29	Evan Oliphant	Raleigh - GAC	at	16' 55''
30	Simon Richardson	IG - Sigma Sport	at	18' 57''
31	Liam Holohan	Raleigh - GAC	at	19' 18''
32	Peter Williams	Node 4 - Giordana	at	19' 25''
33	Russell Downing	Endura Racing	at	19' 33''
34	Sep Vanmarcke	Garmin - Sharp	at	20' 24''
35	Wesley Kreder	Vacansoleil - DCM	at	20' 32''
36	David McGowan	UK Youth Cycling	at	20' 41''
37	Ben Grenda	Rapha Condor	at	20' 44''
38	Adrian Saez de Arregui	Euskaltel Euskadi	at	21' 3''
39	Fabio Sabatini	Liquigas - Cannondale	at	21' 18''
40	Niels Wytinck	An Post Sean Kelly	at	21' 39''
41	Cesare Benedetti	Team NetApp	at	22' 13''
42	Matthias Krizek	Liquigas - Cannondale	at	22' 32''
43	Pieter Ghyllebert	An Post Sean Kelly	at	23' 12''
44	Ricardo Garcia	Euskaltel Euskadi	at	26' 14''
45	Mark Cavendish	Sky Procycling	at	27' 33''
46	Pablo Urtasun	Euskaltel Euskadi	at	27' 50''
47	Jacob Rathe	Garmin - Sharp	at	28' 40''
48	Magnus Backstedt	UK Youth Cycling	at	28' 58''
49	Daniel Schorn	Team NetApp	at	31' 14''
50	Simon Yates	Great Britain	at	31' 27''
51	Jonny Clarke	UnitedHealthcare	at	32' 25''
52	Jonathan McEvoy	Endura Racing	at	35' 18''
53	Christofer Stevenson	UK Youth Cycling	at	35' 35''
54	Kristian House	Rapha Condor	at	36' 25''
55	Robert Förster	UnitedHealthcare	at	38' 2''
56	Jeremy Hunt	Sky Procycling	at	38' 30''
57	Daniel Lloyd	IG - Sigma Sport	at	39' 28''
58	Christopher Jennings	Rapha Condor	at	40' 51''
59	Mathew Cronshaw	Node 4 - Giordana	at	40' 53''
60	Graham Briggs	Raleigh - GAC	at	43' 28''
61	Peter Hawkins	IG - Sigma Sport	at	43' 49''
62	Ian Bibby	Endura Racing	at	44' 51''
63	Bernhard Eisel	Sky Procycling	at	46' 25''
64	Alistair Slater	Great Britain	at	46' 32''
65	Ronan Mclaughlin	An Post Sean Kelly	at	46' 52''
66	Niklas Gustavsson	UK Youth Cycling	at	49' 12''
67	Tom Last	IG - Sigma Sport	at	49' 40''
68	Owain Doull	Great Britain	at	52' 4''
69	Aidis Kruopis	Orica - GreenEDGE	at	53' 16''
70	Dan Craven	IG - Sigma Sport	at	53' 24''
71	Barry Markus	Vacansoleil - DCM	at	1h 0' 15''
72	Marco Benfatto	Liquigas - Cannondale	at	1h 7' 18''
73	Jack Bobridge	Orica - GreenEDGE	at	1h 8' 0''
74	Tom Moses	Great Britain	at	1h 13' 15''
75	George Atkins	Great Britain	at	1h 16' 39''
76	Michael Hepburn	Orica - GreenEDGE	at	1h 32' 37''