The Tour of Britain is now in its third country in three days and it has gone through race leaders at the same rate, with the Spaniard Juan José Lobato succeeding Petr Vakoc in the yellow jersey after the Czech fell victim to a crash late in the stage and lost 10 minutes by the time he had picked himself up and been cleared to continue by the doctors. Sunday’s stage winner, Elia Viviani, repeated the feat after a hectic mass finish in front of the elegant Floors Castle, historic home of the Duke of Roxburghe.
En route to Floors – the name is actually derived from Floris, as this was once known as the House of Bouquets – Vakoc, who won the second stage on Monday, was floored after he was hit from behind by another rider less than five kilometres from the finish as the race descended to the banks of the Tweed. Unfortunately for the 23-year-old, the crash was outside the three-kilometres-to-go mark, inside which fallers are awarded the same time as the first finisher.
Worse still, Vakoc was unable to get back on his bike immediately because he felt dizzy and the doctors wanted to assess him for concussion. In addition he had a suspected broken finger and had ripped off a finger nail in the impact. According to his team manager, Brian Holm, there remained a chance he might be operated on overnight and his future in the race remained in the balance.
The stage featured a lengthy escape initially of six riders eventually pared down to a trio of Tyler Farrar (MTN-Qhubeka), Matt Cronshaw of Madison-Genesis and OnePro’s Marcin Bialoblocki, who were reeled in 10 kilometres before a finish Lobato described as “un poco loco”. He was, however, keen to point out that he meant merely “crazy” – frenetic and testing on the nerves – rather than actually “dangerous”, although to the neutral observing the leaders clattering over the 500m of cobbles through Kelso town centre at 40mph the distinction might have been less clear.
If Monday’s stage was Lancastrian industrial grit, Tuesday’s ended with a lavish backdrop that was pure Downton Abbey, the riders serenaded to the podium by the local pipe band and their post-race press conference held in front of full-length portraits of the various dukes and duchesses. This was once the location for the film Greystoke: the Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes; the sprint, as usual, was a jungle of wheels and elbows.
André Greipel’s Lotto led out, but to no avail, as Viviani timed his effort perfectly to round Sondre Enger of IAM Cycling in the final 100m, and his form is so good that he could afford to take the longer route round the outside as Enger held the inside line on the slight left-hand curve leading to the line. Team Sky’s Italian lost time in Lancashire, but his two wins in three days promises well for the world championships on 27 September and the length of this stage – five and a half hours including the run-out to the start proper from Cockermouth – was perfect preparation, he noted, so too the peppering of little hills in the finale.
Viviani was followed in by the wiry Lobato, a seasoned sprinter over hilly roads who lacks the top-end speed to overcome pure speedsters like Greipel and Mark Cavendish in flatter, shorter races, while the Welshman Owain Doull and Yorkshire’s Graham Briggs continued to show well in sixth and eighth. All of them should get another chance, along with Cavendish, who had a puncture in the finale and was given the same time as the winner, on mainly flat stage down the coast from Edinburgh to Blyth.
