Win for Ben Swift in Spain, 3rd for Ed Clancy in Korea and 2nd for Mark McNally in a Belgian UCI 1.2
Team Sky rider, Ben Swift from Rotherham, added to the other podium for the team when he won the final stage. After an early break with first year ProTour rider, Alex Dowsett (Team Sky) was brought back in the final two K, and Ben’s fellow Rotherham rider Russell Downing did a strong turn at the front, Swifty rode away from Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) and Rubén Pérez (Euskaltel) to claim his third win of the season by approximately two bike lengths.
“The team was absolutely fantastic and I’m over the moon,†he told the team website. “We were all over everything and really animated the stage today. The plan had always been to put it in the gutter from the off and make it a hard day for everyone else, and we managed to get someone in every move.
“With Alex in the main break, it meant the rest of us could preserve our energies in those last 50km but we made sure we were right there hovering when his group got caught and then we really went for it – it was brilliant.
Meanwhile, in Korea, Rapha Condor Sharp’s Ed Clancy was third on the stage to former Tour de France stage winner Jan Kursipu. In France, Endura Racing’s Alexandre Blain of Endura Racing was 9th in the French equivalent of the CiCLE Classic, the Tro-Bro Léon. Former Academy rider Mark McNally in the Dolan sponsored An Post team was second in Zellik – Galmaarden 2011 with another former Academy rider, Andrew Fenn (also of An Post) in fourth place.
