Tour of Britain stage one
Published by Halverde on 8/30/2006 at 10:19.
We're afraid to say that we followed the first stage, from Glasgow to Castle Douglas, vicariously via the internets. It's nothing personal or anything, it's just that Scotland is, like, in a whole different country and stuff.
Anyway, following the race vicariously has been made rather easy this year. Tour of Britain TV's morning show is a convenient way to follow the latest news, despite the terrible fact that it means we have to be out of bed at 11am to watch it. The programme does delve into the world of not-quite-professionalism -- the interesting interview with John Herety of Recycling.co.uk took place in the boot of the team car (it was a big boot and the door was open, don't worry) and Nick Nuyens was interviewed in front of a rental van with a Quick.Step sticker on the bonnet, neither of which really sold us on the magic of cycling (there must've been a cardboard "Tour of Britain" sign somewhere that the show could've used as a backdrop, surely?) -- but this detail does nothing to detract from its charm. There's a real sense of respect for the sport despite the show's flaws, something that the more polished, soulless cycling media could do to learn from.
The programme also offered a real insight into the workings of race teams, with footage from the Davitamon-Lotto team bus. Allan Peiper's tactics for the stage were equal parts sensible and bemusing: "Don't piss in public," and "Follow Quick.Step because they're the best team." The camaraderie on display certainly presented cycling as a team sport, something which is otherwise overlooked by people who've not been hopelessly engulfed by cycling culture.
The race:
During the race itself, three riders broke away on the 25km mark -- Martin Pedersen (Team CSC), Luis Passamontes (Unibet), and Mathew Goss (South Australia.com-AIS). The peleton chose not to follow.
At the feed station at 39km, the classy Andreas Kloeden pulled out of the race and went home. He stated bronchitis as his reason, although we think this might be a reluctant superstar codeword for lack of interest. That's fine; we like Tom Boonen much better anyway, at least he doesn't wear those stupid nose strip things.
As the stage went on, the three leaders managed to increase their lead to eleven minutes. After the peleton bizarrely gave away half an hour on the exact same stage last year, the sentiment in the breakaway group must've been more than a little similar to Frank Schleck's infamous "Fuck, I'm going to win this shit." Luckily for those of us who rely on people actually wanting to follow the race after the first stage, the peleton had cut the lead to two and a half minutes by the finish. The promising Aussie sprinter Mathew Goss didn't hold off his sprint until late enough on the uphill finish, and Pedersen took the win comfortably ahead of Passamontes. The time bonuses for the win meant that Pedersen took the yellow jersey, and Goss slotted into second position overall thanks to the points he'd amassed in the intermediate spints. Russell Downing took third place in the bunch sprint to finish a promising sixth on the stage.
This is going to be a very good ToB, we can tell.
Rider of the stage:
Luis Passamontes, for surpassing his performance in the ENECO Tour. (That is to say, he didn't get disqualified whilst out the front this time around.) He also picked up the most aggressive rider award, quite justifiably, confirming our paranoid belief that everbody in cycling is plagiarising our opinions.
Anyway, following the race vicariously has been made rather easy this year. Tour of Britain TV's morning show is a convenient way to follow the latest news, despite the terrible fact that it means we have to be out of bed at 11am to watch it. The programme does delve into the world of not-quite-professionalism -- the interesting interview with John Herety of Recycling.co.uk took place in the boot of the team car (it was a big boot and the door was open, don't worry) and Nick Nuyens was interviewed in front of a rental van with a Quick.Step sticker on the bonnet, neither of which really sold us on the magic of cycling (there must've been a cardboard "Tour of Britain" sign somewhere that the show could've used as a backdrop, surely?) -- but this detail does nothing to detract from its charm. There's a real sense of respect for the sport despite the show's flaws, something that the more polished, soulless cycling media could do to learn from.
The programme also offered a real insight into the workings of race teams, with footage from the Davitamon-Lotto team bus. Allan Peiper's tactics for the stage were equal parts sensible and bemusing: "Don't piss in public," and "Follow Quick.Step because they're the best team." The camaraderie on display certainly presented cycling as a team sport, something which is otherwise overlooked by people who've not been hopelessly engulfed by cycling culture.
The race:
During the race itself, three riders broke away on the 25km mark -- Martin Pedersen (Team CSC), Luis Passamontes (Unibet), and Mathew Goss (South Australia.com-AIS). The peleton chose not to follow.
At the feed station at 39km, the classy Andreas Kloeden pulled out of the race and went home. He stated bronchitis as his reason, although we think this might be a reluctant superstar codeword for lack of interest. That's fine; we like Tom Boonen much better anyway, at least he doesn't wear those stupid nose strip things.
As the stage went on, the three leaders managed to increase their lead to eleven minutes. After the peleton bizarrely gave away half an hour on the exact same stage last year, the sentiment in the breakaway group must've been more than a little similar to Frank Schleck's infamous "Fuck, I'm going to win this shit." Luckily for those of us who rely on people actually wanting to follow the race after the first stage, the peleton had cut the lead to two and a half minutes by the finish. The promising Aussie sprinter Mathew Goss didn't hold off his sprint until late enough on the uphill finish, and Pedersen took the win comfortably ahead of Passamontes. The time bonuses for the win meant that Pedersen took the yellow jersey, and Goss slotted into second position overall thanks to the points he'd amassed in the intermediate spints. Russell Downing took third place in the bunch sprint to finish a promising sixth on the stage.
This is going to be a very good ToB, we can tell.
Rider of the stage:
Luis Passamontes, for surpassing his performance in the ENECO Tour. (That is to say, he didn't get disqualified whilst out the front this time around.) He also picked up the most aggressive rider award, quite justifiably, confirming our paranoid belief that everbody in cycling is plagiarising our opinions.
