The breakaway had their day today on the Tour of Britain, just about holding off the peloton by a few seconds - or rather no seconds at all according to the initial decision made by the commissaires, though it was later reversed.
Four escapees made it to the finish in Sunderland ahead of the bunch, with Kamiel Bonneu (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) winning from Benjamin Perry (WiV SunGod). Perry had hoovered up 14 seconds in time bonuses during his day out front, which put him equal on time with race leader Corbin Strong (Israel Premier Tech), who was back in the bunch.
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That meant Perry needed to finish just one second up on the bunch to take the race lead and it looked to all the world like he had done that. However, when the results were initially published no time gaps were recorded between the stage winner and Perry back to the front of the bunch despite the gap being seven seconds in reality. That decision initially cost Perry the race leader's jersey, though the results were later reviewed and the WiV-SunGod rider is now the new race leader.
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The UCI implemented a new rule four years ago stipulating unless there was a gap of three seconds between riders on the finish line then no gap would be recorded. Specifically, if the gap between the front wheel of one rider and the back wheel of the rider ahead was 2.99 seconds or less, the rule meant there was no time gap. However, that was intended for bunch finishes - to ensure only gaps above 2.99 seconds in the bunch would be registered as time gaps.
Today the rule was initially applied to the gaps between the four riders in the breakaway and also between the last breakaway rider across the line and the front of the bunch. However, when the result was revised, there was a gap of seven seconds between the winner and the front of the bunch.
Bonneu sprinted in ahead of Perry and in the revised result they are credited with the same time. Now a gap of two seconds has been recorded back to 3rd placed Alex Richardson (Saint Piran) and there is now another gap of two seconds back to Mathijs Paasschens (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB) in 4th.
And finally another gap of three seconds is recorded between Paasschens and front of the bunch, led in by Jordi Meeus (Bora-hansgrohe) for 5th. That means the gap between Bonneu and Perry - 1st and 2nd - back to the bunch is now sevens seconds. And that is enough to give Perry the race lead by seven seconds over Strong.
