The Tour of Britain now moves into its final weekend with two hard stages of the race tomorrow and Sunday. And on the eve of that showdown Ryan Mullen has moved higher in the general classification.
Ryan Mullen Cannondale-Drapac into top 10 in Britain
Ryan Mullen has moved into the top 10 overall at the Tour of Britain with two stages remaining.
The Irish road race and TT champion was just about on the right side of a small split in the peloton at the finish into Aldeburgh today.
And it meant Alex Dowsett (Movistar) who was just behind Mullen lost 8 seconds to him. Consequently the two riders traded 10th and 11th places in the general standings.
Today’s stage 6, 186.9km from Newmarket to Aldeburgh, was won by Caleb Ewan. The Australian riding for Orica-Scott was taking his third victory of the race.
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He edged out Fernando Gaviria (QuickStep) and Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo).
Matt Teggart (An Post-Chainreaction) was best of the Irish back in 30th with Mullen 38th.
Immediately after the Cannondale-Drapac man came that eight second gap in the bunch.
Dan Martin was on the wrong side of it. But he has not shown any interest in the general classification so far. Therefore the time loss was inconsequential for him.
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The final two Irish riders in the race, Sean McKenna and Damien Shaw of An Post-Chainreaction, were a little further back.
McKenna, in his first race at this level, finished in 102nd in a small group 5:13 down. And Shaw was 111th at 11:05.
Tomorrow’s stage looks like the hardest of this Tour of Britain so far. The 185.1km leg from Hemel Hempstead to Cheltenham features two cat 3 climbs.
Furthermore, the riders then face Cleeve Hill, a cat 2 crested just 9km from the finish. It looks like the perfect launched pad for a stage-winning attack.
And while Dan Martin is not targeting the overall, hopefully we may see him having a dig there tomorrow.
Yesterday’s 16.2km TT winner in Tendring, Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo), still holds the race lead.
He has 8 seconds on team mate Victor Campenaerts, with Team Sky’s Vasil Kiryienka a further one second back in 3rd.
The gaps at the top are relatively small; Mullen is just 27 seconds down in 10th.
And filling the three places ahead of him is a dangerous trio, all equal on time.
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and the Team Sky duo of Michal Kwiatkowski and Geraint Thomas are just 19 seconds off the race leader.
The Tour of Britain peloton faces another stern test on Sunday; the final stage 180km to Cardiff with three cat 2 climbs.
Stage 6: Newmarket-Aldeburgh (186.9km)
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott 4:13:06
2 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors
3 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
5 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert
6 Brenton Jones (Aus) JLT Condor
7 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
9 Patrick Bevin (NZl) Cannondale-Drapac
10 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
30 Matthew Teggart (Irl) An Post Chain Reaction
38 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac
63 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:08
102 Sean Mckenna (Irl) An Post Chain Reaction 0:05:13
111 Damien Shaw (Irl) An Post Chain Reaction 0:11:05
General Classification
1 Lars Boom (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 22:10:31
2 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:08
3 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:00:09
4 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:10
5 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:13
6 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:14
7 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:00:19
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
9 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
10 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:27
37 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:33
54 Matthew Teggart (Irl) An Post Chain Reaction 0:02:40
96 Sean Mckenna (Irl) An Post Chain Reaction 0:15:39
107 Damien Shaw (Irl) An Post Chain Reaction 0:21:25
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