Nicolas Roche on the far right of the echelon on the road to Brighton. He was among the group of favourites that distanced the race leader today and now needs to pull a good time trial out of the bag to make it onto the final podium when the Tour of Britain finishes in London tomorrow, Sunday
Nicolas Roche is looking good for a final podium finish at the Tour of Britain; the Tinkoff-Saxo man making the key selection today into Brighton when a series of short but testing climbs split the field to pieces.
Race leader Alex Dowsett (Movistar) was one of the big casualties of the day, losing contact on the penultimate climb and slipping from first to tenth overall.
But as the Briton’s name fell from the top of the leader board – and below that of Roche who was 4th overall starting this morning - Garmin-Sharp parachuted their man Dylan van Baarle into the yellow jersey ahead of the final day’s racing in London.
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The young Dutch rider was part of the early breakaway, with three riders from it surviving all the way to the finish to fill the podium.
Behind them, as well as getting rid of Dowsett, Roche also briefly dropped Bradley Wiggins, though the Team Sky man gathered himself and got back on to the group of main favourites.
Wiggins is now 7th overall, some 47 seconds down, with tomorrow morning’s 8.8km time trial in London ahead of the riders, followed by a circuit race around London later in the day.
Julien Vermote made his move on the penultimate climb and time trialed his way to the finish in a packed Brighton to take the stage win
Roche is 4th, 35 seconds off yellow, while Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) is in second place just 19 seconds back.
The Pole is now perhaps the favourite to win, though yellow jersey van Baarle is very good against the watch and was Dutch U23 TT champion last year.
Also in contention is stage 3 winner and former yellow jersey Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani CSF); the Italian in 3rd place at 25 seconds.
How it unfolded
Today, on the longest stage of the race and with two cat 1 climbs along the route, van Baarle was one of five riders to move clear very early.
For company he had Julien Vernote (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Ignatas Konovalovas (MTN-Qhubeka), Marcin Bialablocki (Giordana) and Kevin Ista (IAM).
They would build a lead that nudged above nine minutes at one point. By the cat 2 ascent of Beachy Head at 162km, the gap was down just below seven minutes as the teams of those in with a chance overall combined on the front of the peloton.
With a time trial to come, Dowsett was in with a great chance of winning the Tour of Britain outright if he could hang in on the climbs today, but it wasn't to be
Up Beachy Head, the gradient and breeze was too much for Bialablocki; the 2013 An Post Rás winner getting dropped from the escape but clawing his way back on around 10km further down the road. The chase after the breakaway split the field, with the peloton greatly reduced even when regrouping took place.
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But it was on the penultimate climb of Ditchling Beacon, with 207km covered, that the key splits occurred; firstly in the escape where Vermote pulled clear and was being chased by Konovalovas and van Baarle
Back in what was left of the main field, race leader Dowsett went backwards as a group of around 15 rode away which included Wiggins, Kwiatkowski, Roche and Zardini.
Dowsett chased hard behind and looked to be holding the gap at between 30 and 40 seconds, but the cat 1 ascent of Bear Road followed just 12km after Ditchling Beacon meaning the window to regain contact was narrow and he never made it.
Bear Road proved a very long and steep drag that did plenty of damage, with Roche at one point leading the way by attacking up it, with Wiggins being distanced but regaining contact quite quickly down the other side.
That left Vermote to time trial all the way to the finish on his own to take a fantastic stage win, with Konovalovas beating van Baarle in the sprint for second place just 23 seconds later.
Van Baarle had started the day in 14th place, 1:25 down on Dowsett but just 51 seconds down on Kwiatkowski in 2nd.
And after the Dutch man crossed the line 3rd today, another 57 seconds would elapse before Kwiatkowski led home the 17-rider strongman’s group also containing Wiggins and Roche.
With the time bonus on offer for third, Van Baarle took the yellow by 19 seconds from Kwiatkowski.
Ireland’s Sam Bennett had been feeling ill in recent days and while the NetApp-Endura said in his stickybottle diary after yesterday’s stage that he still hoped to take something from this race, he was a non starter today.
Ryan Mullen and Jack Wilson, both of An Post Chainreaction, came home in a 35-rider group 24 minutes down today.
The two young Irish riders have had a tough week, but one that should stand them in good stead for the World Championships in Spain the week after next. Both will ride the U23 road race, with team mate Conor Dunne, and Mullen will go into the U23 time trial as a real medal contender.
Having kept a very low profile all week, Dylan van Baarle of Garmin Sharp got into the key move today and took his chance very well. Can he win the Tour of Britain?
Stage 7: Camberley to Brighton (225.1km)
1 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 5:12:34
2 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) MTN-Qhubeka 0:00:23
3 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Garmin-Sharp
4 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 0:01:20
5 Lars-Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
6 Kevin Ista (Bel) IAM Cycling
7 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
8 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling
9 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Bardiani CSF
10 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF
11 Matthieu Boulo (Fra) Team Raleigh
12 Jon Izagirre Insausti (Esp) Movistar Team
13 Marcin Bialobloski (Pol) Giordana Racing Team
14 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky
15 Jan Barta (Cze) Team NetApp-Endura
17 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo
80 Ryan Mullen (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction
90 Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction
DNS Sam Bennett (Irl) Team NetApp-Endura
General Classification
1 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Garmin-Sharp 30:22:02
2 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 0:00:19
3 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:00:25
4 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:35
5 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:36
6 Jon Izagirre Insausti (Esp) Movistar Team 0:00:45
7 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:47
8 David Lopez Garcia (Esp) Team Sky 0:00:49
9 Sébastien Reichenbach (Sui) IAM Cycling 0:00:51
10 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:00:59
11 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) MTN-Qhubeka
12 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:01:07
13 Jan Barta (Cze) Team NetApp-Endura 0:01:22
14 Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:25
15 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Great Britain
88 Ryan Mullen (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 0:51:09
106 Jack Wilson (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction 1:24:44
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