Tour of Yorkshire – Stage 3

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On a race as tough as any in Europe, stage 3 saw Ben Hermans late attack clinch the stage win whilst Lars Petter Nordhaug won the overall and Ian Bibby (NFTO) the final most agressive jersey!

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Tour of Yorkshire – Stage 3
(thanks to Adrian Ellwood for guiding me round the stage on the motorbike to get the following photos)

Report & Results from Stage 2
Report & Results from Stage 1

A controlled, stifling lesson in how to lead a race by Team Sky brought Lars Petter Nordhaug overall victory in the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire, despite Ben Hermans’ impressive and ultimately triumphant late attack on stage 3 to Leeds.

“For me it wasn’t so difficult but for my team-mates they were riding really hard,” Nordhaug told ITV. “It was amazing how strong they were. We were in control all day and I felt very strong, I had confidence all the way and I did not hesitate at all. It was a fantastic day. “It was a good start for the race and today it was just amazing. From start to finish there were huge crowds.”

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The other winners, undoubtedly, were the fans, who turned out in extraordinary numbers just like they did for the Tour de France Grand Départ last year (750.000 spectators today, 1.5 million in total during the 3 days), for the denouement of a race which, after just one edition, has already established itself as one of the highlights of the international cycling calendar.

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Ian Wilkinson of Raleigh GAC all smiles before the stage.

Voeckler’s early move foiled

As if a gruelling route through the moors of West Yorkshire didn’t suffice to make the final stage of the Tour de Yorkshire a daunting prospect for the 131 riders left in the race, cold drizzle throughout the morning had brought the promise of more misery and – for the spectators – more entertainment.

By the time the flag went down, though, the rain had stopped and the stars of the peloton were doing their best to raise the temperature. As early as the ninth kilometre, 23 riders had jumped away, but presence among them of Thomas Voeckler, the third-placed rider on general classification, provoked an instant reaction from the main bunch and disharmony in the breakaway.

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Moves aplenty from the start through the huge crowds

Seven stay clear

Seven of the 23 did manage to pull clear after 27 kilometres and start to build an advantage, now with the peloton’s blessing: Craddock (Giant Alpecin), Enger (IAM), Edet (Cofidis), Janse Van Rensburg (MTN), Quaade (Cult), McLaughlin (Madison-Genesis) and Bibby (NFTO).

By the time that Bibby led over the summit of Holmfirth (km 40), their advantage was 3’45” over a main bunch driven by Lars Petter Nordhaug’s Sky team. Bibby, now sensing his chance to stage a late coup in the King of the Mountains competition, was also the first rider over the Côte de Hebden Bridge (km 95).

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Steele Von Hoff of NFTO leads a move away

Franco-American alliance makes headway

Apparently unhappy with the pace of his six breakaway companions, Lawson Craddock attacked early on the Côte de Goose Eye (km 110). Edet promptly gave chase from behind.

The Frenchman would join Craddock just beyond the Goose Eye summit. Four and a half minutes back, Voeckler’s Europcar team briefly accelerated in an attempt to put Sky under pressure, but the British team quickly regained control – possibly to the relief of prime minister David Cameron, who was among the spectators in Addingham (km 123).

With 37 kilometres remaining, the last of the five escapees left behind by Craddock and Edet, the Norwegian Enger, was finally mopped up by the main peloton. Helpfully for his countryman Nordhaug, Enger had snaffled the last bonus second available at the intermediate sprint in Ilkley.

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The group was too big and all over the road until more attacks whittled it down to seven.

Edet seals KOM title, Craddock takes flight

When they hit the lower slopes of the Cow & Calf, 35 kilometres from home, Craddock and Edet’s advantage began to tumble. An attack from Josh Edmondson (GBR) halfway up the climb helped to drag the main peloton to within just over two minutes of the lead duo.

On the approach to the final classified climb of the race, the formidable Côte de Chevin, BMC riders swarmed to the front, infiltrating the Team Sky train. The rain had now returned, making the roads treacherous. Of greater concern to Edet was picking up the final King of the Mountains points of the race to seal victory in that competition, which he duly did at the top of the Côte de Chevin. Meanwhile, back down the climb, Sky regained total control.

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Ride from goes back to the bunch and straight on the front to help the chase

For the next ten kilometres. Craddock and Edet managed to hold their lead at just over one minute, until Craddock rode away from the Frenchman on the steep, unclassified climb in Arthington (km 151.5). A counter attack from Gustav Larsson (CLT) was swept up on the same sharp rise, moments before Lars Petter Nordhaug took the final bonus second at the last intermediate sprint of the Tour.

Hermans makes his move, Nordhaug stands firm

Before the ten-kilometre-to-go mark, Steven Cummings (MTN) and Steven Kruijswijk (TLJ) both tried their luck, but didn’t gain more than a few hundred metres over Nordhaug et al. Ben Hermans (BMC) fared better, attacking just over nine kilometres from home, then catching and immediately dropping Craddock with 4.5 kilometres to ride. The Belgian, a recent winner of the Brabantse Pijl, then forged on to win alone, ahead of a group led over the line by his BMC team-mate Greg Van Avermaet.

Hermans, a solo winner at Brabantse Pijl last month, said he wasn’t sure he had the form to go alone to the line again. “Fortunately, today was a good day,” Hermans said. “I had a hard moment on second-to-last KOM (king of the mountain) when it started to rain. But then I felt better and attacked. We wanted to make the race hard for the last couple of climbs and then some other teams would attack, or maybe I would attack. But I did not feel quite good enough to attack and still go with the good guys. So we stayed together. I think everyone was a little bit dead at that moment.”

“Second in the GC (general classification) and Ben winning the stage is a fantastic result for us,” Sánchez said. “The final 35 kilometers we had aggressive tactics. It was nice to do so well in this new race that had so many people out to watch.”

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More attacks and Ian Bibby (NFTO) is in the thick of it

Lars Petter Nordaug’s sixth place on the stage was enough to bring him overall victory by 11 seconds over Samuel Sanchez and Thomas Voeckler. Racing on home roads, Team Sky had also claimed their sixth stage race victory of the 2015 season.

Most agressive rider, Ian Bibby after the stage told veloUK “That was a grippy and hard day” he said after having done some TV interviews. “NFTO want to be known for being agressive  and we are missing Eddie so the best plan was to attack.”

“The first hour was pretty brutal and a split 15 went away just because it was so hard. I knew Sky was going to bring the group back though, so I kept on attacking hoping we’d get away before they brought it back and luckily it worked out.”

“The first hour was so hard, by the time we got away, the legs were gone. The first couple of days I haven’t really felt myself, probably the worst I have felt all year so I gave it a good go today”.

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Team Sky talking as they head up yet another climb.

“The crowds here I think are the biggest I have ever seen. Being on the podium was pretty cool too after a day of getting dropped and pulling wheelies on the climbs.”

Asked what the hardest part of the stage was for him, he said “jumping across to the group of 10 to 15 which we had Steele (Von Hoff) in it. I jumped across with Tommy Voeckler and that was pretty grippy!”

“Then when our break exploded on one of the KoM’s, that was also one of the grippest parts of the race for me. The whole day was flat out from the word go and it was all about hanging on and giving it everything you got.”

On the three days in Yorkshire, Ian explained, “It was dissapointing and a shame to lose Eddie on stage 1 because I think he would have shown a lot of people who he is and made a name for himself but he’ll be back in a couple of weeks. It was good to end the three days with a jersey though and I have enjoyed it.”

Asked finally for a highlight, Ian replied “Once I’d been caught and there were only 25 riders left showing it had been a really hard day, when you sit up and see the crowds. You kind of don’t notice them so much when you are riding flat out but you soon realise they were pretty unbelievable.”

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The sprint for a KoM begins with the Confidis rider making the first move …

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But Ian Bibby (NFTO) chases him down and gets the points.

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AT the next one, its James McLaughlin (Madison-Genesis) who tests Bibby

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Sky were really drilling it and the peloton numbered only 25 to 30

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The racer leader safe with his teammates ahead and behind him

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The break split and McLaughlin (Madison-Genesis) and Bibby (NFTO) were dropped by the two leaders Craddock and Edet,

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Europcar come to the front and the effort on the faces of the workers shows just how hard the chase was.

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Craddock and Edet did well to keep there lead for so long.

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A snap shot of the crowds out in Yorkshire today

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Joshua Edmondson on a raiding run up a KoM ahead of the peloton.

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Craddock and Edet

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Ben Hermans

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Ian Bibby

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Lars Petter Nordhaug

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Report & Results from Stage 2
Report & Results from Stage 1

Results

1 Ben Hermans , BMC Racing 4:27:22
2 Greg Van Avermaet, BMC Racing 0:00:09
3 Julien Simon, Cofidis, Solutions Credits
4 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Esp) BMC Racing
5 Huub Duijn, Team Roompot
6 Lars Petter Nordhaug, Team Sky
7 Alex Kirsch, Cult Energy Pro Cycling
8 Thomas Sprengers, Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
9 Steven Kruijswijk, Lotto NL- Jumbo
10 Thomas Voeckler, Europcar

11 Stephen Cummings, MTN – Qhubeka
13 Steven Lampier, Raleigh
14 Richard Handley, JLT Condor
15 Erick Rowsell, Madison Genesis
17 Scott Davies, Great Britain
23 Joshua Edmondson, Great Britain 0:04:03
24 Marcin Bialoblocki, One Pro Cycling 0:05:35
25 Russell Downing, Cult Energy Pro Cycling
32 Karol Domagalski, Raleigh 5.38
35 James McLaughlin, Madison Genesis
36 Kristian House, JLT Condor
41 Jonathan McEvoy, NFTO
42 Bradley Wiggins, Team WIGGINS
43 Liam Holohan, Madison Genesis
46 Thomas Stewart, Madison Genesis 8.21
51 Peter Williams, One Pro Cycling
52 Gabriel Cullaigh, Great Britain
54 Robert Partridge, NFTO
56 Thomas Moses, JLT Condor
57 Morgan Kneisky, Raleigh
62 Owain Doull, Team WIGGINS 0:11:18
63 Michael Thompson, Team WIGGINS
68 Yanto Barker, One Pro Cycling
69 Ian Bibby, NFTO 0:14:44
74 Mark Stewart, Great Britain 16.51
80 Harry Tanfield, JLT Condor 17.13
81 Tom Barras, NFTO
83 Tobyn Horton, Madison Genesis
86 Mark McNally, Madison Genesis
88 Matt Brammeier, MTN – Qhubeka
91 Christopher Latham, Great Britain
92 Steele von Hoff, NFTO
95 Dan Craven Nam Europcar
96 Christopher Lawless, Team WIGGINS
97 Germain Burton, Great Britain
98 Olivier Wood, Great Britain
99 Evan Oliphant, Raleigh
101 Andrew Hawdon, Raleigh
103 James Lowsley Williams, NFTO
104 Graham Briggs, JLT Condor
106 Jake Kelly, Great Britain
107 Iain Paton, Team WIGGINS
110 Andrew Tennant, Team WIGGINS
112 Thomas Scully, Madison Genesis
113 Dale Appleby, NFTO
115 Calvin Beneke, Raleigh
116 Bradley Morgan, Raleigh
117 Chris Opie, One Pro Cycling
118 Joshua Hunt, One Pro Cycling
119 Ian Wilkinson, Raleigh
122 Michael Cuming, JLT Condor
123 Luke Grivell-Mellor, JLT Condor
Most aggressive Ian Bibby, NFTO
FINAL OVERALL
1 Lars Petter Nordhaug,) Team Sky 12:47:56
2 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez, BMC Racing 0:00:11
3 Thomas Voeckler, Europcar
4 Stéphane Rossetto, Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:13
5 Philip Deignan, Team Sky 0:00:24
6 Ben Hermans, BMC Racing 0:01:05
7 Greg Van Avermaet, BMC Racing 0:01:15
8 Erick Rowsell, Madison Genesis 0:01:21
9 Huub Duijn, Team Roompot 0:01:27
10 Richard Handley, JLT Condor
11 Stephen Cummings, MTN – Qhubeka 0:01:30
12 Scott Davies, Great Britain
18 Steven Lampier, Raleigh 2.38
22 Joshua Edmondson, Great Britain 0:07:50
23 Russell Downing, Cult Energy Pro Cycling 0:07:58
26 Karol Domagalski, Raleigh 0:08:07
28 Marcin Bialoblocki, One Pro Cycling 9.16
32 Kristian House, JLT Condor 9.25
33 Liam Holohan, Madison Genesis
34 Jonathan McEvoy, NFTO 0:09:38
39 Morgan Kneisky, Raleigh
40 Thomas Stewart, Madison Genesis 0:12:07
43 Gabriel Cullaigh, Great Britain 12.08
48 Michael Thompson, Team WIGGINS 0:15:05
51 Yanto Barker, One Pro Cycling 0:18:30
52 Ian Bibby, NFTO 0:18:31
53 Owain Doull, Team WIGGINS 0:18:36
55 Robert Partridge, NFTO 0:19:27
58 James McLaughlin, Madison Genesis
59 Bradley Wiggins, Team WIGGINS
61 Steele von Hoff, NFTO
64 Michael James Northey, Madison Genesis 21.00
70 Peter Williams, One Pro Cycling
73 Thomas Moses, JLT Condor 0:26:19
76 Thomas Scully, Madison Genesis 0:27:58
79 Michael Cuming, JLT Condor 28.19
82 Harry Tanfield, JLT Condor 0:31:12
83 Evan Oliphant, Raleigh 0:31:18
88 Christopher Lawless, Team WIGGINS
90 Olivier Wood, Great Britain 0:32:13
92 Tobyn Horton, Madison Genesis
93 Joshua Hunt, One Pro Cycling
94 Bradley Morgan, Raleigh
96 Iain Paton, Team WIGGINS 0:32:48
97 Dan Craven Nam Europcar 0:33:16
99 Dexter Gardias, One Pro Cycling 0:33:39
100 Matt Brammeier, MTN – Qhubeka 0:33:43
103 Ian Wilkinson, Raleigh
104 Chris Opie, One Pro Cycling 0:33:58
106 Dale Appleby, NFTO
107 Germain Burton, Great Britain 0:34:04
110 Calvin Beneke, Raleigh 0:34:57
111 Christopher Latham, Great Britain 0:35:00
113 Mark McNally, Madison Genesis 0:35:22
114 James Lowsley Williams, NFTO 0:35:31
116 Andrew Tennant, Team WIGGINS 0:38:52
117 Luke Grivell-Mellor, JLT Condor 0:39:32
118 Mark Stewart, Great Britain 0:41:01
119 Tom Barras, NFTO 0:42:39
121 Jake Kelly, Great Britain 0:43:43
122 Andrew Hawdon, Raleigh 0:51:28
123 Graham Briggs, JLT Condor 0:51:31
Points
1 Lars Petter Nordhaug, Team Sky 21 pts
2 Greg Van Avermaet, BMC Racing 17
3 Ben Hermans, BMC Racing 15

KOM
1 Nicolas Edet, Cofidis, Solutions Credits 26 pts
2 Ian Bibby, NFTO 16
3 Lawson Craddock, Giant-Alpecin 11

5 Mark McNally, Madison Genesis 10
6 James McLaughlin, Madison Genesis 9
7 Thomas Stewart, Madison Genesis 7

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