Tiernan-Locke takes control on tougher day for the Irish at Tour of Britain

Tiernan-Locke took the race to the rest of the field and came away with the leader’s jersey (Photo: www.velouk.net)

Tiernan-Locke took the race to the rest of the field and came away with the leader’s jersey (Photo: www.velouk.net) 

 

 

By Gavin McLoughlin

Pieter Ghyllebert was the An Post-Sean Kelly team’s star performer on the queen-stage of the Tour of Britain today, Friday. The Belgian went clear with an early six-man breakaway and battled valiantly in an attempt to seize what would have been a great stage win in the Welsh valleys.

Ghyllebert escaped in the morning with Marcin Bialoblocki (Node4-Giordana), Dan Craven (IG-Sigma Sport), Kristian House (Rapha Condor Sharp), Magnus Backstedt (UK Youth) and Graham Briggs (Raleigh-GAC).

The group quickly established a lead of over five minutes in the first 25 kilometres. With none a credible threat for the overall standings, teams with an interest in the general classification were content to let the gap grow further, and so by the time it reached over 7 minutes, former Tour de France stage winner Backstedt became the virtual leader on the road.

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Meaningful action finally commenced in a sleepy peloton as the race entered the town of Llandrindod Wells, with the Orica-GreenEdge team of GC leader Leigh Howard and the Endura Racing squad of top contender Jonathan Tiernan-Locke chiselling patiently into the gap.

An audacious attack from Team Sky on the descent of the Brecon Beacons climb was enough to splinter the bunch as a select group of favourites broke clear, with the An Post-Sean Kelly contingent left behind until the frantically chasing pack eventually reeled the group in.

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As the breakaway began to approach the finishing loop, the pace in the peloton seemed to slacken, with all the donkey work left in the lap of the veteran Russell Downing (Endura Racing). A tired Ghyllebert grimaced and grit his teeth as Team Sky and Garmin-Sharp eventually took control to melt the leaders’ advantage away.

Tiernan-Locke danced away from his rivals on the first ascent of a packed Caerphilly Mountain, taking sole breakaway survivor Graham Briggs for company with 10 kilometres remaining. Team Net App’s Czech Leopold Koenig showed off his strength to bridge across the gap, before the tenacious Ghyllebert somehow summoned up the strength to join the lead trio in the rush for the finish.

But a whole day of effort had left its mark, as the fierce pace would eventually shell Briggs and the An Post rider out the rear. Ghyllebert, winner of the sprints classification here last year, crossed the line in 29th place, 1:30 back.

Having essentially sandbagged all the way in, it was no surprise when Koenig jumped clear of Tiernan-Locke to take the stage victory. Leigh Howard and the morning’s second-place starter Boy van Poppel (United Healthcare) suffered like dogs on the second ascent of Caerphilly Mountain and were unceremoniously dropped from the chasing group of favourites, cementing a place in the gold jersey of race leader for Tiernan-Locke.

The Plymouth native should be able to hold on for the overall win in Guildford on Sunday for a victory that would cap a stunning season for him.

Irish sprinting prodigy Sam Bennett (An Post-Sean Kelly) unfortunately abandoned, but the Carrick-on-Suir rider should take great pride from three top-ten stage finishes in this event

Combativity prizewinners Niels Wytinck, Ronan McLaughlin (both An-Post-Sean Kelly) and Peter Hawkins (IG-Sigma Sport) finished in 23rd, 81st and 66th places respectively, while An Post ’s Mark McNally and Gediminas Bagdonas were 31st and 42nd.

All will be anxious to leave their mark on the race over the weekend before the 2012 edition ends in Guildford on Sunday.

 

Stage 6 – Result: Welshpool to Caerphilly

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

 

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