Ireland's Matt Teggart said he was hoping for a better result at the Tour of Britain. But he was caught out with positioning just before the sprint. He was one of three Irish riders to make the front group on an opening stage that split more than expected. Above, Caleb Ewan takes a very tight sprint to win.
Matt Teggart best of Irish in Tour of Britain
[wpbrad id=124]
An Post-Chainreaction's Matt Teggart was best of the Irish riders on stage 1 of the Tour of Britain into Kelso today.
The field split a little in the final section of the race; many riders being distanced with around 25km remaining as the road climbed.
Teggart was one of three Irishmen to stay in the 68-rider bunch, with the rest of the 120-strong field strung out back the road.
He was 26th on the stage and on the same time as winner Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott). The Australian won a blanket finish at the end of 190km.
Advertisement
He took victory just ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), Elia Viviani (Team Sky) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin).
Related News
Just behind Teggart came Ryan Mullen; the Cannondale-Drapac rider finishing in 30th place. And Dan Martin (QuickStep) was 63rd.
The An Post Chainreaction duo of Sean McKenna and Damien Shaw found the going a little tougher. They got caught on the wrong side of a split as the pace ramped up in the last 30 minutes of racing.
Both would finish - Shaw 94th and McKenna 98th - in a group some 6:26 down.
After getting the first stage under his belt, Matt Teggart will fancy his chances of making a better impression in the sprints over the next week at the Tour of Britain.
After today's opener he said he was very disappointed he didn't do better. He added a positioning error let him down at the last KOM close to the finish.
Teggart comes into the race in great form and after a very good season. He took a stage and wore the yellow jersey in the Rás in May.
Matt Teggart looking for more
And at the recent Tour de l'Avenir he held the climbers' jersey for half the race. He rode that event, regarded as the U23 Tour de France, with the national team.
Teggart may get a chance to have another go in the Tour of Britain sprints as early as tomorrow, if he handles the challenging start well.
The riders face a 211.7km stage from Kielder Water and Forest Park in Northumberland to Blyth. There are three cat 2 climbs in the first 65km, after which the terrain is flatter.
Stage 1 Edinburgh to Kelso (190.1km)
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott 4:34:17
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
5 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors
6 Chris Lawless (GBr) Great Britain
7 Brenton Jones (Aus) JLT Condor
8 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Lotto Soudal
9 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors
10 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team
26 Matt Teggart (Irl) An Post Chainreaction
30 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac
63 Dan Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors
94 Damien Shaw (Irl) An Post Chainreaction 6:26
98 Sean McKenna (Irl) An Post Chainreaction
Topics
