Elia Viviani (Team Sky) edged out Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) after a photo finish sprint on the opening stage of the Tour of Britain. The Italian stormed up the inside of Cavendish in the final 50 metres to beat him by nothing more than the width of a tyre. André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) held on to claim third place.
The gap was so small that even the directeur sportives of the respective teams were unsure who the victor was. Cavendish’s lead-out man Mark Renshaw even allowed himself a little celebration. Viviani himself wasn’t sure until he heard the displeasure of his rival that it was he who had taken the victory, as he did on the opening day two years ago.
“When I saw that there was 100 metres to go I thought that it was too late,” he explained in the post-stage press conference.
“Greipel, in the last corner, came between me and Cav and I thought that I was in a good position. When I saw 200 metres to go and he didn’t start and then 150, I thought it was too late and maybe it was the wrong decision but I want to try.
“When I saw Cavendish go in the middle of the road I saw some space so I just sprinted to the line. We were so close. I needed a few metres after the finish line to realise that I’d won. When Cav said ‘oh no’, I understood that I’d won.”
Team Sky spent most of the day controlling the peloton, with all six of their riders present and correct at the head of proceedings. Etixx-QuickStep and Lotto-Soudal moved to the front with just over 20 kilometres to go and brought the bunch into the finale, catching the four escapees along the way. The Etixx train looked in command as they swept through the narrow, twisting final kilometre.
Renshaw’s pull on the front put some distance between Cavendish and his rivals, forcing Greipel to chase back on. The Manxman jumped from Renshaw’s wheel as they approached the final corner with Greipel rounding the Australian on the other side. Viviani was third in line but used the slipstream of the others to eventually propel himself to the stage win and earn him the first leader’s jersey of the race. Cavendish did have a trip to the podium also, taking the award for the best British rider.
How it happened
After the sunshine that bathed the riders during the team presentation, it was an altogether greyer affair at the start of stage 1. A heavy shower just moments before the start had the riders rushing back to the sanctuary of their team buses to grab their wet weather gear.
It was the local teams that animated the race early on with three of the British squads making it into the break, joined by the An Post-Chain Reactions team. Kristian House (JTL Condor), Pete Williams (One Pro Cycling), Tom Stewart (Madison Genesis) and Connor Dunne (An Post-Chain Reactions) were allowed to go and quickly built a substantial lead. With the peloton feeling unthreatened by the escapees, they were allowed to gain a maximum advantage of nine minutes on the bunch.
With room to breathe, they fought it out for the two jerseys that were on offer. House jumped clear on the first climb of the day, the category one Llanberis Pass, to take full points. He could only manage third on the next ascent but attacked once again on the final climb of the day to give himself a one-point lead in the mountains classification. Williams and Dunne did battle in the sprint competition but it was the Irishman Dunne who came out on top with his second place in the final sprint of the day. Williams did get the consolation of the combativity prize and a big block of cheese.
The combined efforts of Etixx, Sky and Lotto-Soudal ensured that the four riders would not make to the finish. Despite the advantage going back out again briefly, the sprint finish didn’t look in doubt once they’d tackled the day’s three climbs. With 10 kilometres to go, the gap was under a minute and the four breakaway companions began trying to attack each other. The inevitable happened when they were all brought back with just over a kilometre remaining.
Etixx-QuickStep had numbers on the front as Viviani and Greipel were forced to hang onto their wheels in the run-in. Despite thinking he’d left it too late, Viviani edged past Cavendish to take victory by the slimmest of margins.
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