Vacansoleil rider continues strong team performance in Colchester
Slovenian rider Borut Bozic continued Vacansoleil’s remarkable run in this year’s Tour of Britain, winning stage 7 in a big bunch gallop. The 30 year old was first to the line in Colchester, edging out Greg Henderson (Team Sky) and pulling clear of the rest of the peloton on the uphill rise to the line.
Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) took third three seconds later, surprising himself with his finishing speed when he edged out Pierpaolo de Negri (ISD-Neri Giambenini), Koen de Kort (Skil Shimano) and the others.
Overnight leader Michael Albasini had no problems during the stage, particularly as Team Sky did a lot of the driving to try to set things up for points leader Henderson. This took the pressure off his HTC Columbia team, who started pulling near the finish but then saw Andre Greipel slip back and finish nearly two minutes down in 74th place.
After the time bonuses were calculated, Albasini ended up one minute and 5 seconds ahead of Bozic, 1’14 up on Porte and 1’16 in front of Henderson.
“I was always looking forward to this moment, normally in the last stage not so much happens and it should be a bunch sprint. I am happy to still have the Yellow Jersey. Three days ago I wasn’t so sure to bring it this far when we had just four riders in the race.
“It’s perfect now with three stage wins and hopefully also the yellow at the end in London.”
The fast, mainly flat stage had a very active start after the drop of the flag in Bury St Edmunds, but tight control was placed on the initial moves. Following a succession of short-lived attacks, the break of the day finally went after approximately 40 minutes of racing. Tom Murray (Sigma Sport Specialized) and Peter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen) teamed up and built a maximum lead of almost three minutes.
They cooperated well, with Murray taking top KOM points on the category three climbs of Foxearth, Milden Hill and Ballingdon Hill, and Jacobs taking the intermediate sprints in Long Melford, Braintree and Tiptree. However that mutual partnership was broken when a plummeting advantage meant that Jacobs decided to go it alone He attacked approximately 23 kilometres out, initially extended his lead to one minute 20 seconds, but was finally reeled in with less than four kilometres remaining.
From that point on, a bunch gallop was virtually certain. Greipel was expected to fight for his third stage of the week but dropped back. That made things look good for Bozic, who was second to him yesterday, and so it proved.
“For me this is a big victory because there are a lot of good riders here,” said the 2009 Vuelta a España stage winner. “It doesn’t matter where it is; every race is hard to win.”
It was a good day for Vacansoleil; aside from taking its second stage win of the race, the team sealed victory in relation to Johnny Hoogerland’s battle to win the Mountains jersey. Michael Golas has amassed a winning total in the sprints jersey, and the squad in general is over six minutes clear of second-placed Sky in the teams competition. Bozic is second overall while his team-mate is fifth.
Hoogerland was pleased to get through today’s stage without problems; he can’t be beaten at this point, and will bring home the King of the Mountains jersey as long as he finishes tomorrow. That’s something that pleases him greatly. “Yesterday I was pretty sure of the jersey,” he stated, sitting alongside Bozic in the post-race press conference. “But with today it could have happened that 15 riders had gone with Richie (Porte) and stolen the points, so you never know.
“During the last few stages I have been taking the most points, but it was on the fourth stage, when I took the jersey, that it was good for me. I’m very happy to bring it home.”
The final battles will be waged tomorrow on a flat, fast circuit in London. The 96 kilometre stage will see the riders complete eight laps of a twelve kilometre circuit, and is expected to once again feature a huge turnout of spectators.
A bunch sprint is a virtual certainty but, even so, Albasini doesn’t want to take anything for granted. “The last stage is always hard, you have to keep the concentration,” he said, knowing that a puncture, a crash or other mishap could spoil the party. “It’s only over when it’s over.”
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Tour of Britain (2.1, September 11-18):
Stage 7, Bury St Edmunds to Colchester:
1, Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) 152.3 kilometres in 3 hours 24 mins 15 secs
2, Greg Henderson (Team Sky) same time
3, Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) at 3 secs
4, Pierpaolo De Negri (ISD – Neri Giambenini)
5, Koen De Kort (Skil – Shimano)
6, Jonathan McEvoy (Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta)
7, Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator) all same time
8, Alexandre Blain (Endura Racing) at 6 secs
9, Jack Bauer (Endura Racing)
10, Zak Dempster (Rapha Condor – Sharp) both same time
Intermediate sprint 1, Long Melford:
1, Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator) 5 pts
2, Tom Murray (Sigma Sport – Specialized) 3
3, Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) 2
Intermediate sprint 2, Braintree:
1, Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator) 5 pts
2, Tom Murray (Sigma Sport – Specialized) 3
3, Lucas Sebastien Haedo (Team Saxo Bank) 2
Intermediate sprint 3, Tiptree:
1, Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator) 5 pts
2, Michael Golas (Vacansoleil) 3
3, Jaroslav Marycz (Team Saxo Bank) 2
King of the Mountains prime 1, Foxearth (Cat. 3):
1, Tom Murray (Sigma Sport – Specialized) 4 pts
2, Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator) 3
3, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) 2
King of the Mountains prime 2, Milden Hill (Cat. 3):
1, Tom Murray (Sigma Sport – Specialized) 4 pts
2, Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator) 3
3, Mathew Hayman (Team Sky) 2
King of the Mountains prime 3, Ballingdon Hill (Cat. 3):
1, Tom Murray (Sigma Sport – Specialized) 4 pts
2, Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator) 3
3, Mark Renshaw (Team HTC – Columbia) 2
Teams:
1, Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta, 10 hours 13 mins 5 secs
2, Endura Racing, at 3 secs
3, ISD-Neri Giambenini, at 13 secs
4, Topsport Vlaanderen, same time
5, Skil-Shimano, at 15 secs
6, Colnago-CSF Inox, at 16 secs
General classification after stage 7:
1, Michael Albasini (Team HTC – Columbia) 27 hours 26 mins 40 secs
2, Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) at 1 min 5 secs
3, Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) at 1 min 14 secs
4, Greg Henderson (Team Sky) at 1 min 16 secs
5, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) at 1 min 32 secs
6, Patrick Sinkewitz (ISD – Neri Giambenini) at 2 mins 12 secs
7, Christian Meier (Garmin – Transitions) at 2 mins 30 secs
8, Robert Partridge (Endura Racing) at 2 mins 32 secs
9, Koen De Kort (Skil – Shimano) at 2 mins 35 secs
10, Marco Frapporti (Colnago – CSF Inox) at 3 mins 31 secs
Points classification:
1, Greg Henderson (Team Sky) 62 pts
2, Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) 57
3, Koen De Kort (Skil – Shimano) 50
4, Michael Albasini (Team HTC – Columbia) 39
5, Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) 38
6, Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator) 38
Sprints classification:
1, Michael Golas (Vacansoleil) 31 pts
2, Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) 20
3, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) 16
4, Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator) 15
5, Greg Henderson (Team Sky) 11
6, Mathew Hayman (Team Sky) 11
Mountains classification:
1, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) 56 pts
2, Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank) 45
3, Wout Poels (Vacansoleil) 31
4, Patrick Sinkewitz (ISD – Neri Giambenini) 24
5, Cameron Meyer (Garmin – Transitions) 23
6, Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) 23
Teams classification:
1, Vacansoleil Pro Cycling, 82 hours 16 mins 41 secs
2, Sky Pro Cycling Team, at 6 mins 15 secs
3, Team Saxo Bank, at 24 mins 42 secs
4, ISD-Neri Giambenini, at 33 mins 43 secs
5, Team HTC-Columbia, at 36 mins 23 secs
6, Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta, at 42 mins 10 secs