The peloton was trimmed right down by the finish of Tour of Britain stage 3 but the Ireland’s Matt Teggart was still there. He was getting into the mix with the big guns. Above, Caleb Ewan takes his second stage win to reclaim the leader’s jersey (Photo: Tour of Britain)
Matt Teggart riding well at Tour of Britain
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Having come into the Tour of Britain close to the end of a great season, Matt Teggart is showing flashes of being able to truly compete at the highest level.
The Irishman’s breaking into the top 20 on stage 3 today could not be passed off as any major milestone.
However, he was mixing it with some very big names and showing he’s not afraid. What’s more, he was doing it after a hard final.
The 120-rider field had thinned down to just 70 men by the finish line; a clear sign the hammer had gone down pretty heavily.
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That Matt Teggart, with no real experience at this level of racing, was in the mix at all after a race of this quality had split was impressive.
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He will need more time, and crucially more high quality racing like this, to start regularly breaking into the top 10 against the big names.
But his result today suggests the An Post-Chainreaction man is going in the right direction and that troubling the front of a sprint in a race like the Tour of Britain is definitely not beyond him.
Today’s 176.9km stage from Normanby Hall Country Park to Scunthorpe was won by Caleb Ewan in a bunch sprint.
The Scott-Orica fastman, who also took the opening stage, regains the race lead as a result of his victory today.
He saw off Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin).
Philippe Gilbert (QuickStep Floors) tried to pickpocket the pure sprinters with an attack just before the gallop started. However, he was swallowed up in the sprint and had to settle for 8th.
Teggart was back in 19th, just one ahead of rising sprint star Fernando Gaviria; the QuickStep man who took four Giro stages this year.
And just ahead of Teggart, and in 16th, was Dylan Groenewegen, the LottoNL-Jumbo rider. He won the final stage of the Tour de France onto the Champs-Élysées.
Both Ryan Mullen (Cannondale-Drapac) and Dan Martin (QuickStep) also finished in the bunch today. They were in 47th and 57th respectively.
Teggart’s team mates Damien Shaw and Sean McKenna finished 91st and 92nd in a group 1:05 down.
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