Capping off a good day for his HTC Columbia team, Andre Greipel clocked up his 20th victory of the season today when he galloped to victory at the end of stage six of the Tour of Britain.
The German sprinter beat Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil), Lucas Sebastien Haedo (Team Saxo Bank), Greg Henderson (Team Sky) and the rest of the peloton on the seafront at Great Yarmouth, following up on his win on day one of the race.
Greipel shared celebrations with Michael Albasini, who retained his yellow jersey of race leadership and has moved to within two stages of winning the event overall. The Swiss finished alongside his main rivals today and appears to be recovering from the stomach problems which blighted him yesterday.
Albasini ends the day one minute 26 seconds ahead of the Vacansoleil rider Borut Bozic, who gained six seconds in time bonuses and duly moved one second past Riche Porte (Saxo Bank) into second place overall.
“We were not so fresh at all with just four riders left in the race,” Greipel said, referring to the illness-provoked withdrawals of Tony Martin and Marco Pinotti. “So it was quite a good powerful beginning to the stage for the team. We tried to keep the breakaway as small as possible as we were all pretty tired from the last two days.”
The stage began with a ferocious, near-50 kilometres per hour average pace being set. This was down to the assisting wind and also the constant attacks that were fired off as teams tried to get riders clear. The key move of the day began 61 kilometres after the start when Cameron Meyer (Garmin Transitions) and Jeremy Hunt (Cervélo) raced ahead. Hunt sat up after several minutes out front, but Meyer was joined by the Saxo Bank rider Jaroslav Marycz (Saxo Bank) and together they pulled out a bigger and bigger gap.
Their advantage peaked at over seven minutes, then the chasing of Team Sky swung the pendulum the other way. The gap dropped to under 50 seconds with nine kilometres remaining, at which point Meyer attacked and went solo. He was finally reeled in with a kilometre to go.
“We were happy that just two riders were away and we could sit on as the other riders chased the breakaway down,” continued Greipel. “At the end we were focused on the sprint, and Bert Grabsch and Mark Renshaw gave me a really good position, and quite a good leadout from Mark. I think we can be really happy with this victory.
“Sky had to chase the breakaway down, so there was no one left to do the leadout. We were just sitting on and with two kilometres to go we went, and that’s how it was.”
His team-mate Albasini saw Bozic inch a small bit closer, but still has a very healthy lead. He felt considerably better today than he did 24 hours earlier when he was suffering from the stomach problems that took Tony Martin out of the race. “It’s nearly better,” he told VeloNation after the finish. “I couldn’t really eat energy gels as my stomach is still sensitive, but I feel a lot better than yesterday. I should be okay – I just need to replace the energy I lost, eat plenty of carbohydrates.”
Albasini carries a one minute 26 second lead into tomorrow’s penultimate stage, a mainly flat 152.3 kilometre race from Bury St. Edmunds to Colchester. A bunch sprint is again the most likely outcome, and so he and his team must be feeling increasingly confident that they can raise the trophy in London on Saturday.
His rivals will come out fighting, though, knowing that it may be their last chance to gain significant time. They will also be skirmishing amongst themselves, with Greg Henderson (Team Sky), Johnny Hoogerland and Michael Golas (both Vacansoleil) wishing to add to their advantage in the points, mountains and sprints jerseys.
Whatever happens in these battles, the Tour of Britain looks to be the biggest winner. The crowds on today’s stage were simply amazing, with Norfolk in particular featuring thousands of people cheering the event along. Team Sky may not be having the race it would like, but the British public are nevertheless turning out in droves, illustrating that the sport is on a real high here.
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Tour of Britain, September 11-18 (UCI 2.1):
Stage 6: King's Lynn - Great Yarmouth:
1 André Greipel (Team HTC - Columbia) 190 kilometres in 4 hours 9 mins 5 secs
2, Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil)
3, Lucas Sebastien Haedo (Team Saxo Bank)
4, Greg Henderson (Team Sky)
5, Pierpaolo De Negri (ISD - Neri Giambenini)
6, Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) all same time
Sprint 1 - Sandringham 1, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) 5 pt
Sprint 2 - Wells-next-the-Sea 1, Greg Henderson (Team Sky) 5 pts
Sprint 3 - Grapes Hill 1, Cameron Meyer (Garmin - Transitions) 5 pts
Mountain 1 - Burnham Deepdale (Cat. 3, km 38.1):
1, Pim Lighart (Vacansoleil) 4 pts
2, Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) 3
3, Jeremy Hunt (Cervelo Test Team) 2
Mountain 2 - Beacon Hill (Cat. 3, km 81.4):
1, Cameron Meyer (Garmin - Transitions) 4 pts
2, Jaroslav Marycz (Team Saxo Bank) 3
3, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) 2
Mountain 3 - Mousehold Heath (Cat. 3, km 142.6):
1, Cameron Meyer (Garmin - Transitions) 4 pts
2, Jaroslav Marycz (Team Saxo Bank) 3
3, Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) 2
Teams:
1, Endura Racing, 12 hours 27 mins 15 secs
2, ISD-Neri Giambenini,
3, Topsport Vlaanderen, both same time
General classification after stage 6:
1, Michael Albasini (Team HTC – Columbia) 24 hours 2 mins 14 secs
2, Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) at 1 min 26 secs
3, Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) at 1 min 27 secs
4, Greg Henderson (Team Sky) at 1 min 33 secs
5, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) at 1 min 37 secs
6, Patrick Sinkewitz (ISD - Neri Giambenini) at 2 mins 8 secs
Points classification:
1, Greg Henderson (Team Sky) 48 pts
2, Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) 42
3, Michael Albasini (Team HTC - Columbia) 39
Sprints classification:
1, Michael Golas (Vacansoleil) 27 pts
2, Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) 18
3, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) 15
Mountains classification:
1, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) 54 pts
2, Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) 45
3, Wout Poels (Vacansoleil) 31
Teams classification:
1, Vacansoleil Pro Cycling, 72 hours 3 mins 19 secs
2, Sky Pro Cycling Team, at 5 mins 46 secs
3, Team Saxo Bank, at 24 mins