Steve Cummings looks set to clinch the biggest stage race win of his career on Sunday when the Tour of Britain finishes in London, but the double Tour de France stage winner was made to work hard on the climb to the finish of the 90km circuit race.
Cummings’s closest rivals, the Australian Rohan Dennis and the Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, applied the pressure with Dumoulin attacking first, before Dennis broke clear to take the stage victory and move 26sec behind the Briton.
In the final two kilometres, Cummings was forced to chase hard as the peloton splintered and he was overhauled at the end by a small group led by the Argentinian Maximiliano Richeze. Dennis’s advantage was 6sec, so a time bonus for the win meant he sealed second overall from Dumoulin. As Cummings said, it will mean the Briton has no room for complacency on Sunday’s the 100km stage in central London.
“Split days are always hard,” said Cummings, who had produced the performance he needed in the morning’s time trial stage to finish well within reach of Dumoulin and Dennis, who have stronger time trialling pedigrees. “The climb was tough. I said several days ago we had a super Rohan Dennis here, and it was a bit touch and go.
“I’ve still got 26 seconds [lead], there are 25-second time bonuses available [on Sunday] so I’ll have to be attentive.”
“If I see an opportunity I’ll take it but realistically it’s done and dusted,” said Dennis. The Australian rode aggressively on Friday’s stage to the top of Haytor, and, if he does end up second on Sunday, will probably regret riding too rashly over the climb of The Struggle in the Lake District on Monday, giving Cummings the opportunity to open a minute lead that has proved invaluable in the last 24 hours.
Giving a hint of what may await in the world championship in Qatar next month, Tony Martin, the German triple world title winner, finished fastest in the time trial, managing close to 48kph, with Dennis, Dumoulin, and Cummings, in that order, close behind. Critically, Cummings limited his losses to 13sec on Dennis and 11sec on Dumoulin, whereas they needed to slash at least 30sec off his overnight lead to have any realistic hope of threatening him through the time bonuses that are awarded at intermediate sprints and the finish.
Bristol’s cycling fans had a complete day’s racing to watch, with the time trial over a 15km loop that took the riders off the Downs, across the Clifton Suspension bridge and down almost into the centre of the city before returning to the short, stiff climb up on to Clifton Downs. The afternoon’s stage covered six laps of the same course, far from a straightforward proposition given the leg-breaking ascent and the succession of corners and pinch points on the mainly urban roads.
The time trial had offered Dumoulin and Dennis a chance – albeit a remote one – to put Cummings under pressure, but in the event the Wirral rider was equal to the task, although with overnight rain slow to clear, there was a delicate equation to be resolved: the need for speed versus the obvious need to stay upright on greasy corners with tight exit points and unhelpful cambers.
The most notable faller was the American Taylor Phinney, but the British sprinter Dan McLay was another victim, fortunately to no ill effect. By the afternoon the clouds had cleared, although the initial descent off the Downs on the first lap was neutralised to deter any attacks.
At the Vuelta a España, Chris Froome fell short in his last-ditch attempt to become the first Briton to win the final Grand Tour of the season. The Team Sky leader had placed the race leader, Nairo Quintana, under pressure in Friday’s time trial stage, slashing the Colombian’s advantage to less than 90sec, but Quintana proved equal to the task in the final mountain-top finish at Alto de Aitana, repelling several attacks from Froome and eventually surging clear himself to clinch the overall title. His fellow Colombian Esteban Chaves staged a long-range attack to snatch third overall from the Spaniard Alberto Contador, while the stage victory went to France’s Pierre-Roger Latour.
