Tour of Britain Chat: Rob Partridge

Rob Partridge celebrated his many years in the Tour of Britain by getting in the break on stage 1 – we chatted to him

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Tour of Britain Chat: Rob Partridge

A rider a lot of experience in the Tour of Britain, having been on the start line in 2004 at the first edition, Rob Partridge of Bike Channel Canyon celebrated being on the race by getting in the break on stage 1

“It was one of those where it was a fight to be in it with a lot of boys having a go and I just kind of waited and waited and seized the moment and got in it” he explained before stage 2.

“I don’t know if that was experience … I was sat in about 50th and you can see a lot happening. Then I just started moving forward and I had a go and at one point was on my own. It was a really hard day out especially establishing the break.”

“There were also a few boys that wanted to tram it all day and I was trying to get them to understand that if we go easy, they’ll go easy behind but they didn’t understand so it was a hard day in the end.”

Asked can be believe he has done so many Tour of Britains, he replied “it’s crazy. Back in 2004, I didn’t have a clue what was going on where as now I have a vague idea! Back then I was thinking I don’t even know if I can survive day 2 where as now I know if I float in the wheels, I’ll be alright.”

Rob has seen many changes in the race. Back then, there were rider protests about the safety on the race. Rob explains how its changed. “That year, after being in the break, I got spat at the end and we were in traffic and weren’t that far behind , five minutes or so. This year, we lost a bit of time of time on stage 1 and we still had the convoy in front of us and clear road so it was safer.” \
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With so many Editions to choose from, picking a highlight could be difficult but Rob says “I always say the one where I was top 10 – 8th – that was a break through for me; in fact that year was a break through year and the Tour result was the icing on the cake”.

“I have also enjoyed the days when I’ve been in a breakaway and its stayed away and I’ve scraped some top 10s on stages. I’ve also had days in a break going through my home town where I grew up in North Wales and there was family and friends there.”

“It’s those sort of moments. You race all year, and you don’t get any texts from anyone wishing you good luck, but you come here and there are ten or twenty texts saying ‘ have a good one’ and so on.

He added that being in in a break is also a good day out despite there being no result at the end of it. The final question was what is his goal in the rest of the Tour? “The GC is out of the window now and that became apparent when I was in the break and the finale was too hard to sit in and it split apart so I’d like to get in some breaks again, hopefully one that stays away.”

“I will also bodyguard Opie for the week as well being captain on the road…. They are such a great bunch of lads, I’m really enjoying it.”

Thanks Rob and good luck for the rest of the race …

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