Tour of Britain Stage 1

Jumbo – Visma were a class apart as Olav Kooij sprinted to win the opening stage of the Tour of Britain 2023 in front of a packed crowd on Deansgate in Manchester.

Tour of Britain Stage 1
Event Press release | Results presented by Brother UK #atyourside

Jumbo – Visma were a class apart as Olav Kooij sprinted to win the opening stage of the Tour of Britain 2023 in front of a packed crowd on Deansgate in Manchester.
Kooij led home a one-two for the Dutch team ahead of Wout van Aert, with Sam Bennett (BORA – hansgrohe) the best of the rest in third, after Jumbo – Visma and INEOS Grenadiers ensured that the finish was contested by a large peloton.

The Dutchman will wear the leader’s jersey in Monday’s second stage in and around Wrexham, the first of two in this year’s race to take place in Wales. Kooij said: “It was actually quite a hard day, but really nice with all the fans out on the road. In the end, we managed to catch the break after the guys did a really good job pulling on the front. We got it right into the last kilometre, and then [we were] first and second into the last corner. After that we had to go full gas to the line. I’m really happy to start the race with a win. We made a lot of plans for the lead-out throughout the year but it doesn’t come together that many times. To get it right after such a good job from the whole team makes the victory even nicer.”

Blessed by beautiful sunshine, an estimated 500,000 spectators lined the 163.6-kilometre route from Altrincham. It didn’t take long for riders to take a chance and break clear of the peloton. James Fouché (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) escaped within the opening six kilometres, and by the 10-kilometre mark he had company in the form of Harry Tanfield (TDT-Unibet Cycling Team), Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) and team-mates Zeb Kyffin and Jack Rootkin-Gray (Saint Piran).

Tanfield took maximum points at the cottages.com sprint at Hazel Grove, before Fouché was first to the summit of the two Pinarello king of the mountains climbs at Grains Bar (second category) and Ramsbottom Rake (first category), which gives him the lead in the competition after stage one. The quintet only had a two-minute lead on the chasing peloton at the bottom of the packed Ramsbottom Rake, as Jumbo – Visma and INEOS Grenadiers continued to control the pace behind.

Tanfield was dropped from the break with 51 kilometres remaining, then four kilometres later Fouché decided his day was done and also sat up. Last to be caught was Dversnes, who survived until 1,500 metres out from Deansgate, before his chances of a memorable victory were banished.

Jumbo – Visma took charge on the final run into the line and ominously showed signs of a perfectly-drilled lead-out operation. Van Aert arguably could have claimed the victory himself, but dropped back into Kooij’s wheel to allow the Dutchman to mark his Tour of Britain debut in style and claim the 23rd victory of his career.

… Continued after the advert …

STAGE RESULT
1 *KOOIJ Olav TJV NED +00
2 VAN AERT Wout TJV BEL ‘ ‘
3 BENNETT Sam BOH IRL ‘ ‘
4 KANTER Max MOV GER ‘ ‘
5 VERNON Ethan GBR GBR ‘ ‘
6 *EDVARDSEN-FREDHEIM Stian UXT NOR ‘ ‘
7 BOMBOI Davide TDT BEL ‘ ‘
8 VAN POPPEL Danny BOH NED ‘ ‘
9 SERRANO RODRIGUEZ Gonzalo MOV ESP ‘ ‘
10 TOWNSEND Rory BEB IRL ‘ ‘
11 MÄRKL Niklas DSM GER ‘ ‘
12 PIDCOCK Thomas IGD GBR ‘ ‘
13 TILLER Rasmus UXT NOR ‘ ‘
14 *ANDRESEN Tobias DSM DEN ‘ ‘
15 JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland UXT NOR ‘ ‘
16 SWIFT Connor IGD GBR ‘ ‘
17 MEENS Johan BWB BEL ‘ ‘
18 *GUDMESTAD Tord UXT NOR ‘ ‘
19 *DONALDSON Robert TRI GBR ‘ ‘
20 BOSTOCK Matthew BEB GBR ‘ ‘
21 *MAGNIER Paul TRI FRA ‘ ‘
22 PARISINI Nicolo’ Q36 ITA ‘ ‘
23 TURNER Ben IGD GBR ‘ ‘
24 TIDBALL William SPC GBR ‘ ‘
25 BALLABIO Giacomo GLC ITA ‘ ‘
26 *VAN UDEN Casper DSM NED ‘ ‘
27 *BIRCHILL Harry SPC GBR ‘ ‘
28 POLITT Nils BOH GER ‘ ‘
29 BLOEM Joren TDT NED ‘ ‘
30 URIANSTAD Martin Bugge UXT NOR ‘ ‘
31 WIRTGEN Tom GLC LUX ‘ ‘
32 CROCKETT Finn SPC GBR ‘ ‘
33 *RODRIGUEZ CANO Carlos IGD ESP ‘ ‘
34 CHRISTENSEN Ryan BEB NZL ‘ ‘
35 ADRIA Roger EKP ESP ‘ ‘
36 ROSSKOPF Joseph Q36 USA ‘ ‘
37 SAJNOK Szymon Q36 POL ‘ ‘
38 DE PESTEL Sander TFB BEL ‘ ‘
39 SCOTT Jacob BEB GBR ‘ ‘
40 ELOSEGUI MOMEÑE Iñigo EKP ESP ‘ ‘
41 COLMAN Alex TFB BEL ‘ ‘
42 *SHEFFIELD Magnus IGD USA ‘ ‘
43 *PERSICO Davide BWB ITA ‘ ‘
44 DONOVAN Mark Q36 GBR ‘ ‘
45 RODRIGUEZ GARAICOECHEA Oscar MOV ESP ‘ ‘
46 HOWSON Damien Q36 AUS ‘ ‘
47 KYFFIN Zeb SPC GBR ‘ ‘
48 *ARRIETA LIZARRAGA Igor EKP ESP ‘ ‘
49 WILLIAMS Stephen GBR GBR ‘ ‘
50 STEWART Mark BEB GBR ‘ ‘
51 MULLEN Ryan BOH IRL ‘ ‘
52 SALBY Alexander BWB DEN ‘ ‘
53 DVERSNES Fredrik UXT NOR ‘ ‘
54 STOCKMAN Abram TDT BEL ‘ ‘
55 RICHARDSON Alexandar SPC GBR ‘ ‘
56 MUHLBERGER Gregor MOV AUT ‘ ‘
57 SESSLER Nicolas GLC BRA ‘ ‘
58 DE VRIES Hartthijs TDT NED ‘ ‘
59 DE TIER Floris BWB BEL ‘ ‘
60 *REES Oliver TRI GBR ‘ ‘
61 TEUGELS Lennert BWB BEL ‘ ‘
62 *GIDDINGS Joshua GBR GBR ‘ ‘
63 PEYSKENS Dimitri BWB BEL ‘ ‘
64 BONNEU Kamiel TFB BEL ‘ ‘
65 SCHELLING Ide BOH NED ‘ ‘
66 PARRA CUERDA Jose Felix EKP ESP ‘ ‘
67 MARIS Elias TFB BEL ‘ ‘
68 *ROOTKIN-GRAY Jack SPC GBR ‘ ‘
69 BEVIN Patrick DSM NZL ‘ ‘
70 *LAMPERTI Luke TRI USA ‘ ‘
71 *FRETIN Milan TFB BEL ‘ ‘
72 *WALKER Max TRI GBR ‘ ‘
73 KRUIJSWIJK Steven TJV NED ‘ ‘
74 VAN HOOYDONCK Nathan TJV BEL ‘ ‘
75 *RUSSELL Evan GLC CAN ‘ ‘
76 AFFINI Edoardo TJV ITA ‘ ‘
77 *HOBBS Alfred Bruce Noah GBR GBR ‘ ‘
78 ORMISTON Callum GLC RSA ‘ ‘
79 FOUCHE James BEB NZL +49″
80 VERONA Carlos MOV ESP +1’34”
81 ROWE Luke IGD GBR ‘ ‘
82 VAN DEN TUUK Danny EKP NED ‘ ‘
83 NABERMAN Tim DSM NED +1’47”
84 GAVIRIA Fernando MOV COL +2’24”
85 WALLS Matthew BOH GBR +2’31”
86 *JOHNSTON Liam TRI AUS +2’35”
87 MALECKI Kamil Q36 POL +3’20”
88 VAN EMDEN Jos TJV NED ‘ ‘
89 VANHOOF Ward TFB BEL +00″
90 RUIZ SEDANO Ibon EKP ESP +9’56”
91 *LEIJNSE Enzo DSM NED +12’24”
92 TANFIELD Harry TDT GBR +16’36”
93 WOOD Oliver GBR GBR ‘ ‘
94 *BROUGH Thomas Jack GBR GBR ‘ ‘
95 KOYAMA Tomoya GLC JPN +23’34”

BEST OF BRITISH
1. Ethan Vernon
2. Tom Pidcock
3. Connor Swift
4. Bob Donaldson
5. Matt Bostock
6. Ben Turner
7. Will Tidball
8. Harry Birchill
9. Finn Crockett
10. Jacob Scott
11. Mark Donovan
12. Stevie Williams
13. Mark Stewart
14. Alexandar Richardson
15. Ollie Rees
16. Josh Giddings
17. Jack Rootkin Gray
18. Max Walker
19. Noah Hobbs
20. Luke Rowe
21. Matt Walls
22. Harry Tanfield
23. Ollie Wood
24. Jack Brough