What an exciting day!
The Team Time Trial left us as much at the edge of our seats as we’d hoped! A lot of teams had high hopes for the stage, even though, at only 25 km, it was never going to be a decisive factor in the GC.
The first person in the hot seat was Blair Drader, holding 7th overall in GC, who did the route in 35:54. Drader who is a powerful rider won the early slot, which might have put pressure on 6th placed Tim Davies who rides for Tiers4Tester. The nerves weren’t getting to Davies or his team, who ended just outside the podium at 33:25. This will help Davies in his GC aspirations “Moving up the GC is a real pleasure to get, especially as I've learned how to ride against these top guys, both by riding with them but also watching afterward. Looking at GC - holding 6th - will be my expected result now. But I could move ahead of Jurgen Janssen to 5th. It would be great if we are on the same race and can battle it out.” Davies said before the stage today. Janssens not on a team, did the stage in 36:48, which means he’ll lose over 3 minutes to Davies in the GC.
As expected Rasio Racing spend most of the day in the hot seat, doing their ride early in the day; possibly to maximize rest before tomorrow's big stage. “We did our TTT. We started out like always and did our turns like a well-oiled machine. But had one teammate drop out very early on the ride, because of a technical issue. We went on with 5 people and gave hell. The course suited us, and we went for a good time. “ And did they indeed end up with a good time, 32:52, 18 seconds faster than Glasgow United C.C who was first at the time. This was, however, not enough. As the last team, Pocomotion took on the route at 6 o’clock UK time and finished 32 minutes and 27 seconds later. Following a huge effort by all four members, Kader Allouni was the first to cross the finish line and we’ve managed to get the following comment on today's effort: “We had a good flow through the route, taking turns and covering gaps when they appeared. The route suited us well, Mads has a large engine but is also a big guy, so he was able to maximize his effort on the downhill. We have been participating in the MRETTT this fall, which helped us a lot. Nick Giles, who is our team captain, has previously won 5 medals in the UK national TTT championship. His experience has helped us a lot in setting up a proper TTT. Overall, we and our sponsors are very pleased to see team Pocomotion come home with a stage win”.
The stage win for team Pocomotion also means that John Sammut will be the overall winner in the points classification. “It’s great to win the green jersey. It was won through consistency, the aim from start being to make the top 10 on GC. Still one more big stage tomorrow - hopefully, the legs will hold out to keep top 3 position. Exceeded my expectations all around and team performance/support has been fantastic. Looking forward to a proper rest on Monday!” Sammut said after securing the win. He has indeed been consistent, making the top 10 in almost all stages, which also puts him at second place in GC. The expectations have been exceeded, but there is still a fight left tomorrow. 3rd place holder Andrzej Krajewski will look to make up for today's TT, which he did in 35:47, ending up losing almost three and a half minutes to Sammut. The distance between the two is now above 8 minutes, and the way Sammut has been riding, it seems almost impossible that he will be losing that tomorrow. It is however a stage with more than 2000 meters of climbing. So if you do break down, you could potentially lose a lot.
John Melville and his team did, as they have been doing consistently the entire tour, ride very well. They ended up in third place on the stage, losing under a minute to winning team Pocomotion, which is more than they could have hoped for, considering where Glasgow United C.C has its strength. “We're experienced cyclists, but have not done a TTT together,” Hans Forhaug of team Glasgow United said before today. That didn’t come to show, and the way they have been riding in the mountains so far, only something truly spectacular will take away the overall win, as well as the team competition from the Scottish based team. "I'm proud of the team, fighting through injuries, mechanicals, and hope to hold on against some great competition." Overall leader, John Melville, adds.
At the individual level, Nate Fulcher destroyed the stage, at a finishing time of 33:49. This is without a teammate, but would still put Fulcher at an overall 6th place in the team competition. " I knew it would be tough but I had seen some earlier times and studied the course so I knew what I had to do. My weight and watts advantage on the downhill sections had to count because if I didn't create a time gap early on, the wolves would be chasing me up the ramps in the second half - and they did exactly that. Claes was catching quick on that final section and I had to empty the tank to stay ahead." Fulcher says after winning the individual stage classification. A lot of teams are probably quite disappointed they did not get Nate Fulchers signature before the tour. After such a dominant performance, he will be the one deciding the figures on the incoming contract offers I am sure.
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