Tour of Yorkshire: Third for Ian Bibby on final stage

After travelling the world, Ian Bibby found his form better than expected as he was third on the final stage and 6th overall in the 2018 Tour of Yorkshire

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Tour of Yorkshire: Third for Ian Bibby on final stage

Ian Bibby chasing the front group over the top of the Chevin climb outside of Otley with more British riders (James Shaw/Dan Pearson) in the background also chasing and looking to stay in the race for the stage and a high overall position

After returning from the Commonwealth Games, and a tough day out at Klondike, Ian Bibby showed some sensational form by finishing third on the final stage of the Tour de Yorkshire, sprinting for second with none other than Greg Avermaet, Olympic champion and a former winner of Paris Roubaix.

The Tour de Yorkshire was packed with great rides by British based riders in 2018 and one out of the top drawer was that one by Ian Bibby. On the toughest stage of all, nick named the Yorkshire Terrier, Ian showed yet again he has the class to ride with World Tour riders on the toughest terrain and afterwards, we got to have a quick chat.

“I am going well but the preparation for it wasn’t good” Ian explained after the finish. Having fresh legs probably did me good though. They went off pretty hard so I stuck myself at the front in the wind rather than sitting in the bunch and just hung in…”
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“I got blocked in on the run in and didn’t quite get Van Avermaet who won the sprint behind the lone winner but I moved up to finish 6th overall and I’m pretty happy with that.”

“The first climb, they rode it really hard, and I was like what do I do? – do I try to go with the group”.

This was exactly what Ian did and by the time of the last categorised climb (there were others afterwards), Ian added they really attacked that too. “I paced that well –I let them go by a few metres knowing that at the top, I can sprint onto them which I did and then waited for the finish”.

We then talked about a ‘sprint’ at ‘Arthington’ which was the hilliest ‘sprint’ I had ever seen and worthy of a KoM status it was that severe…. “I was hoping to get a few seconds there to move myself up overall” Ian told us “and I looked at it when we arrived on it and thought ‘oh my god’ and was thinking of still going for it but didn’t want to risk hurting my chances of getting to the finish with them so I made sure I stayed in the group and didn’t bother sprinting on what was one of the hardest climbs of the day.”
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Ian then talked about how the three weeks leading up to it was not ideal preparation. “I went to Croatia, and just got round, getting dropped most days, then went to Normandy and got dropped and only lasted five days. Then I flew to the Commonwealth Games (Australia) and so lost three days training flying out there, and then when I got there, you’re racing there so you can’t train normally and then you’re flying back and losing even more days so you end up doing weeks of nothing really.”

“I rode the prem last week (Klondike) and that was terrible but I think it kickstarted the system; that was a big hard day at Klondike.”

Talking about the Tour of Yorkshire again, Ian said the second stage saw him see that his form was better than expected. “On the Cow and Calf, I was positioned terribly, but I came from the back to the front in the last few hundred metres so thought I must be going alright”.

Having done so well at Yorkshire, his thoughts now turn towards Lincoln. “I thought I’d come here (Yorkshire) and not be great but after four days I’d be good for Lincoln, and then Japan the week after but I’ve gone alright here as well so for sure I’d like to win Lincoln again ….”

Thanks Ian for the chat and congrats on the sensational ride….

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