Team News: Kristian House back in Mountains Jersey

Rapha Condor Sharp rider Kristian House took back the Skoda King of the Mountains jersey with another bold opportunist move on stage 3 of the Tour of Britain today.

House had led the competition after a long-range move on stage 1, but had to relinquish the lead yesterday when he missed the break that took the majority of the points on the road to Knowsley.

Stage 3 followed a tough undulating route across Scotland from Jedburgh to Dumfries, and House made sure he was in the right place when the attack went shortly after the first Yodel sprint in Hawick after 10km.

“I wasn’t too disappointed to lose the jersey yesterday, because on the first day I’d only really scored points on small climbs so I didn’t have much of a lead. I knew I had to get back down the road if I wanted to get the jersey back and I managed to make the right move.”

House scored points consistently throughout the day, winning one of the two first category climbs of at Turner Cleuch Law, and taking second on the other two climbs of the day.

The stage unfolded in a similar pattern to the two previous stages, with the five men being allowed a three minute maximum lead, before the team of race leader Boy Van Poppel took up the job of slowly pegging the move back.

House however, with an interest in the jersey more than the stage was more than happy to be allowed to stay away for the majority of the stage.

“I knew the move was quite likely to come back before the finish, but it was a strong break, and there was a lot for me to gain by being down the road. We are here to show ourselves and with Rich in the move yesterday and me getting the jersey back we’ve had a really good start to the tour so far.”

House and his four fellow escapees were reeled in with 15km to go, and for the third day running a bunch sprint decided the outcome of the stage, with Mark Cavendish finally getting a much anticipated first victory in the 2012 Tour.

House will again be wearing the distinctive green and white Skoda King of the Mountains jersey as the Tour heads South from Carlisle to Blackpool tomorrow.

Stage 2
The second stage of the Tour of Britain saw another display of aggressive riding from Rapha Condor Sharp, with Richard Handley involved in the action as part of a long breakaway.

Handley, who was recently announced on the long-list for the Great Britain team for the U23 World Road Race Championships, was part of a six-man move that eventually worked its way free of the bunch after 20km of racing.

After the finish Handley said,

“After Kristian went in the break yesterday we wanted to be in the action again today, and make sure we made the break. Yesterday the move went quite quickly after the start but today a lot of guys wanted to be in it so it was quite hard just to get in the move.”

“I was climbing well, and I was trying to protect Kristian’s lead in the mountains, but the other guys (Urtusan and Hampton-Ed) were just a little bit faster in those sprints.”

The break established itself shortly before the first of the day’s three 1st category climbs, and the number of points on offer meant that House was always likely to loose his jersey unless he made the move.

Despite losing his Skoda K.O.M jersey House remained upbeat,

“It was always going to be hard to keep the jersey today, I had a target on my back with the jersey so it was hard to get away again. There is plenty left to play for in this Tour though, I’m not too far behind in the K.O.M classification still and I am feeling good, so I’ll keep trying to attack this race.”

The breakaway’s lead peaked at four and a half minutes before team Sky, riding in defense of Luke Rowe’s overall lead, pegged the escapees’ advantage back to a minute and a half with just over 50km to go.

Team Sky then proceeded to keep the break within touching distance for the next 20km. With the peloton hot on their heels, an attack by Jack Bobridge and Pete Williams split the break, and the remainder of the group was captured on the fast run in across the Cheshire plain, leaving the two survivors of the move to dangle in front of the peloton for a further few kilometers.

The race concluded in Knowsley Safari park, where Lee Howard took a well-earned victory ahead of Mark Cavendish, in the bunch sprint that decided the stage.