Tour of Britain 2013 - Stage 1
The Tour of Britain got underway today with a tough 201 kilometre stage from Peebles to Drumlanrig Castle. Unlike last year, where the race started with scorching weather, the peloton was greeted by harsh conditions, with strong gales and rain blasting the riders throughout the day. This year's Tour boasts an impressive field; 2012 Tour de France champion Sir Bradley Wiggins is present, along with British champions Mark Cavendish and Alex Dowsett. Joining the stellar British talent is Nairo Quintana, runner up at this year's Tour de France, and Irishman Dan Martin.
Despite the bad conditions, a break of five did go out infront on the stage, and no one was surprised to see Kristian House of Rapha Condor-JLT present, last year's King of the Mountains. He was joined by Christophe Laborie, Aaron Gate, Peter Hawkins and Ben Greenwood. The break never looked like threatening to win the stage, but Kristian House picked up enough points to take the first King of the Mountains jersey, and Aaron Gate took enough to take the sprints jersey.
The group were steadily brought back throughout the day, and as they neared the peloton once again, Anthony Delaplace of Sojasun attacked from the pack. He never gained much of a gap, but must have suffered riding alone in the wind. He went through a sprint point, and when the peloton followed, it was Nathan Haas of Garmin-Sharp, and Sir Bradley Wiggins who jumped out to take bonus seconds. These two men obviously have ambitions in this year's race.
Delaplace was also slowly brought back, by a combination of teams such as Sky Procycling, Omega Pharma-Quickstep and Garmin-Sharp. Going into the last ten kilometres, there was a crash on a tricky bend that had obviously been greased by the wet weather. UK Youth's Chris Opie and Raleigh's Mark Christian were the main victims, and would have a difficult time if they wished to get back on.
The lead out trains started to form, and under the red kite of the last kilometre it was a tussle between Garmin-Sharp and Omega Pharma-Quickstep. Mark Cavendish began to get boxed in as MTN-Qhubeka started to move forward, and he lost the wheel of his lead-out man Alessandro Petacchi. Petacchi stayed close to the front as Gerald Ciolek opened up his sprint and hit the front. It looked as if he may have got the victory, but out of his wheel came Elia Viviani of Cannondale, the fast-sprinting Italian who Cavendish outsprinted at this year's Giro d'Italia.
There was another crash in the final kilometre, but because of its being in the final three kilometres the victims lost no time. There were no casualties reported, so it is presumed that every rider that took the start this morning made it to the finish in one piece. Viviani took the race lead by virtue of winning the stage, and with it the lead of the points classification. A tough start to the Tour of Britain does not get any easier, as tomorrow it is the longest stage in the race's history, 225 kilometres from Carlisle to Kendal.