Good start for Rapha Condor in Tour of Britain

The 2012 Tour of Britain kicked off in style for Rapha Condor Sharp today, when Kristian House formed part of a four man moved that dominated the proceedings on stage one from Ipswich to Norfolk Showground.

The ‘men in black’ started their home Tour with the objective being aggressive from the start and making sure the team was represented in the big moves of the race. Rising to the occasion, House was quick to get involved in the action joining a move that would turn in to an almost stage long breakaway.

It was a hot day so plenty of SiS products were needed including the fluids.

“I didn’t have a definite plan to go away in such a long break today, but I was open to it. This race is usually dominated by sprinters and we know in our team we have to attack to be in the action. The move went just as we were turning into some smaller lanes. I knew it was time to go because it would only take a few guys to slow up at the front and we’d be away. As soon as I saw we had a gap I put my head down.”

Ever the consummate professional, once in the break, House then set about maximizing the benefits of the move.

“A move like this on the first day is always a good one to be in. The leaders jersey competitions are wide open, and there are time bonuses too. It is always good to get up on the podium so I went for the K.O.M as hard as I could and picked up a few seconds in the intermediate sprints.”

House’s decision to go for the Skoda K.O.M points rewarded him with a 3 point lead in the competition after taking maximum points on all three of the third category climbs on route.

VeloUK saw a few of the KoM sprints and they were hard fought for sprints with Kristian and the AN Post rider on his Dolan duelling for the points

Team manager John Herety was pleased with the team’s first showing in what looks set to be a brilliant edition of the Tour of Britain.

“Kristian did a great job today. We discussed this kind of break going in the team meeting, and unlike in other years when I’ve told the guys to avoid those early moves, we decided that we should be in it.”

“Kristian is a guy who leads by example, and he did his bit to show the young guys here how the job was done today. The break we knew was doomed to fail with Sky so keen for a bunch sprint and with such a strong team here, but the guys have seen that we can be competitive now. We’ve the lead in the K.O.M and the guys should all be up for more of the same for the rest of the week.”

Kristian in his King of the Mountains jersey.

The four man move that started in the first kilometer of the 200km stage was eventually swept up following a well controlled chase by team Sky who, after letting the advantage grow quickly to 7 minutes, pegged the escapees back with 25km to go. The British World Tour team was rewarded for their long chase with a popular win for neo pro Luke Rowe in Norfolk Showground, after several late crashes had decimated the peloton in the final 15km.

The race continues tomorrow with a 178km trek from Nottingham to Knowsley