Tag: vakoc

Cockermouth – Kelso: a look back

Race Reviews, Tour of Britain
tob15 s3 sweetspot (2) viviani
Viviani takes win number two (Sweetspot)

Elia Viviani of Team Sky took his second victory in three days at Kelso in the Scottish Borderlands, beating Movistar’s Juan José Lobato to the line in the shadow of Floors Castle. The win is Sky’s 200th victory since the inception of the team back in 2010.

Despite missing out on the stage win, Lobato took over the race lead after Etixx-QuickStep’s Petr Vakoč crashed just outside the 3km to go mark, only a day after taking over the yellow jersey.

The Czech rider looked to be nursing an injury to his left hand as he rolled in ten minutes after Viviani, with teammate Fernando Gaviria at his side. At the time of publication it is unknown whether Vakoč will continue tomorrow.

A six-man break went away within the first 20km, with Tyler Farrar (MTN-Qhubeka), Matt Cronshaw (Madison-Genesis), Marcin Białobłocki (One Pro Cycling), Aidis Kruopis (An Post-ChainReaction), Johnny McEvoy (NFTO) managing to get away.

The peloton on the road to Kelso (Sweetspot)
The peloton on the road to Kelso (Sweetspot)
Today's finish (Sweetspot)
Today’s finish (Sweetspot)

For the most part it was a rather standard day of racing, though Tyler Farrar sprinting for mountain points raised a few eyebrows. Six minutes was the break’s maximum lead, before the sprinter’s teams started their work at the front of the peloton.

On the descent of Wilton Hill, the second category climb with 40km remaining, the lead group was slimmed down to three. Farrar, Cronshaw and Białobłocki were the lucky trio, pushing onwards to the finish.

It wasn’t to be for the break though. Their lead started to evaporate as Lotto-Soudal and Cannondale-Garmin took on the majority of the pace-setting on the run-in to the finish of the 216km stage. With 3km to go, they were caught and it would come down to a fight between the fastmen.

André Greipel was surprisingly leading out for teammate Jens Debusschere but the Belgian was swamped in the final metres, as IAM’s Sondre Holst Enger sped past with Viviani on his wheel. The Italian timed his sprint to perfection, easing over the line ahead of Lobato and Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep).

Farrar wins the combativity award (Sweetspot)
Farrar wins the combativity award (Sweetspot)
stage result
1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 5:08:18
2 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Esp) Movistar Team
3 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx – Quick Step
4 Sondre Holst Enger (Nor) IAM Cycling
5 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto – Soudal
6 Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS
7 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Team Cannondale – Garmin
8 Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor
9 Alex Peters (GBr) Great Britain
10 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky
general classification
1 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Esp) Movistar Team 13:37:04
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka 0:00:10
3 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team 0:00:12
4 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:13
5 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Cannondale – Garmin
MOUNTAIN CLASSIFICATION
1 Thomas Stewart (GBr) Madison Genesis 25  pts
2 Ian Bibby (GBr) NFTO 23
3 Kristian House (GBr) JLT Condor 20
POINTS CLASSIFICATION
1 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Esp) Movistar Team 39  pts
2 Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS 32
3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 30

 

SPRINT CLASSIFICATION
1 Peter Williams (GBr) One Pro Cycling 9  pts
2 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Lotto – Soudal 8
3 Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) An Post – Chainreaction 8

 

Clitheroe – Colne: a look back

Race Reviews, Tour of Britain
tob15 s2 sweetspot (1) vakoc
Vakoč takes a solo victory (Sweetspot)

Etixx-QuickStep’s Petr Vakoč took over the lead of the Tour of Britain after a stunning solo victory on the second stage of the race into Colne. The Czech national champion attacked his breakmates with 19km to go, maintaining a small gap over the rampaging peloton all the way to the line.

The World University Champion and second-year pro said after the stage that he didn’t expect the win.

“Normally stages with such a hard start don’t do me any good but I started with really good feelings today,” he said. “When I went I thought somebody would go with me, but it was just me so I pushed as hard as I could.”

“The finish was pretty tough but I still had some energy left. At the end I was imagining that I was doing a bunch sprint,” he joked. “It was a beautiful victory.”

Earlier in the day, Peter Williams (One Pro Cycling) was on the attack once again, keen to secure another combativity awards and another block of cheese. Movistar’s Alex Dowsett, who led the race last year, joined Williams in an attempt to replicate his 2014 success.

Williams earned more cheese for the One Pro Cycling fridge (Sweetspot)
Williams earned more cheese for the One Pro Cycling fridge (Sweetspot)

Dowsett was, however, forced to drop back as the Team Sky-led peloton looked loath to let him go up the road.

The race really got going on the second category climb of Bleara Moor, 100km into the 159km stage. A group of forty riders split away from the main peloton over the top as Williams was caught, with race leader Elia Viviani falling back.

Vakoč attacked on the descent, along with BMC’s Danilo Wyss and Great Britain’s Alex Peters, and the trio were soon joined by Wout Poels (Sky), Serge Pauwels (MTN-Qhubeka), Pim Ligthart (Lotto-Soudal), Rubén Fernández (Movistar) and Alberto Bettiol (Cannondale-Garmin).

The lead group never got a gap of more than fifty seconds, but with no race radios there was always a chance they would stay away.

With Tinkoff-Saxo and Lotto-Soudal leading the chase, the 23-year-old seized his moment, holding on to win by seven seconds before collapsing, exhausted, metres after the line.

Movistar’s Juan José Lobato led the peloton home, and perhaps he would’ve triumphed had the Spanish squad put in the work. Edvald Boasson Hagen of MTN-Qhubeka rounded off the podium.

Vakoč after the finish (inthedrops)
Vakoč after the finish (inthedrops)
stage result
1 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Etixx – Quick Step 4:02:22
2 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Esp) Movistar Team 0:00:07
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka 0:00:09
4 Rasmus Guldhammer Pedersen (Den) Cult Energy Pro Cycling
5 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx – Quick Step
6 Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS
7 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto – Soudal
8 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
9 Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Esp) Movistar Team
10 Javier Mejias Leal (Esp) Team Novo Nordisk
general classification
1 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Etixx – Quick Step 8:28:41
2 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Esp) Movistar Team 0:00:11
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN – Qhubeka 0:00:15
4 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team 0:00:17
5 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:18

 

mountains classification
1 Thomas Stewart (GBr) Madison Genesis 23  pts
2 Ian Bibby (GBr) NFTO 20
3 Kristian House (GBr) JLT Condor 20
points classification
1 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Esp) Movistar Team 25  pts
2 Owain Doull (GBr) Team WIGGINS 22
3 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Etixx – Quick Step 15
sprint classification
1 Peter Williams (GBr) One Pro Cycling 9  pts
2 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Lotto – Soudal 8
3 Conor Dunne (Irl) An Post – Chainreaction 7