Team Sky’s Elia Viviani is the first leader of the 2015 Aviva Tour of Britain after he gatecrashed a much-anticipated sprint battle between Etixx-Quick Step’s Mark Cavendish and André Greipel of Lotto-Soudal to win the opening stage in Wrexham this afternoon.
The Italian blindsided Cavendish on the former world champion’s left as the Manx rider, winner of 10 Tour of Britain stages, fought with Greipel who had come off his wheel to try and overtake him on the right in the final charge to the line at the end of the 177.7km stage from Beaumaris on Anglesey.
Cavendish’s Etixx-Quick Step leadout train had put him in an ideal position as the day’s four breakaway riders were swept up at the start of the final kilometre.
But Viviani’s win, by around a tyre’s width from Cavendish with Greipel third, was just reward for Team Sky who had worked hard to keep the escapees in check throughout the afternoon, with Andy Fenn leading the peloton for much of the time.
Three of the four members of the break got to visit the podium at the end of the stage, including Kristian House, riding his final race for JLT-Condor. Winner of the mountains competition at the 2012 Tour of Britain, House is the first leader of that classification this year.
Conor Dunne of An Post-Chain Reaction meanwhile leads the Yodel Sprints competition after coming out on top in today’s intermediate sprints ahead of Tom Stewart of Madison-Genesis and Peter Williams of One Pro Cycling, the latter awarded the day’s Rouleur combativity award.
House, who yesterday announced he is moving to One Pro Cycling, attacked with 4 kilometres remaining, his future team mate Williams following his move.
But they were pulled back as Etixx-Quick Step led by Tour de France stage winner Zdenek Stybar forced the pace on a technical finish – in vain, as it proved, as Viviani took one of the closest victories ever seen in the race.
10 thoughts on “Aviva Tour of Britain Stage 1: Viviani gatecrashes Cavendish versus Greipel showdown”
Oh dear. Please don’t tell me
Oh dear. Please don’t tell me you’re going to use that deformed, pig-ugly version of their logo every day the tour is on?
Super sprint finish. Although
Super sprint finish. Although fav got clipped, this it will be good for his head that he flicked Gripel.
Bet the logo stays. The
Bet the logo stays. The whole race is clamped down with marketing. Have you ever heard the TdF called by its sponsors name? Nope but the ToB is always on tv etc. Likewise the sprints and climbs. I see the sponsors point of view but its rather tacky. Somehow there is a difference when the sponsors are the reason for the event like the Amstel Gold.
Whilst I am moaning, am I the only one who hates the word classic being stuck don’t o events names when they can’t be as t hey are new. That thing in Surrey jumps out.
Bet the logo stays. The
Bet the logo stays. The whole race is clamped down with marketing. Have you ever heard the TdF called by its sponsors name? Nope but the ToB is always on tv etc. Likewise the sprints and climbs. I see the sponsors point of view but its rather tacky. Somehow there is a difference when the sponsors are the reason for the event like the Amstel Gold.
Whilst I am moaning, am I the only one who hates the word classic being stuck don’t o events names when they can’t be as t hey are new. That thing in Surrey jumps out.
Here’s the correct version…
Here’s the correct version…
A lot* of people have been
A lot* of people have been asking me how the TOB logo compares to others. Well, I would say poorly – the mark is dull and leisurely and the typeface looks like a freeware font done for a school project. Not sure if the mark is supposed to be a stylised ‘TOB’? The website is just as bad.
My rankings are:
1) TDF – Classic, stylish and clever. Brilliant exercise in branding. The benchmark. 9/10
2) Giro – Clean and professional, feels very Italian. 7/10
3) Vuelta – The mark has a sense of speed and Spain but I’m not a fan of the typeface and the backward ‘e’ doesn’t work. 5/10
4) Tour of Britain – Pedestrian. Nothing to evoke Britain or even a race. A terrible showcase of British design 0/10
*Literally nobody at all
Doesn’t the backwards E in La
Doesn’t the backwards E in La Vuelta symbolise the fact it’s the 3rd grand tour of the season?
The TOB logo is utterly awful. It looks like a hunchback on a fixie.
Couldn’t care less about the
Couldn’t care less about the rubbish logo.
I was disappointed that the TV didn’t really show any of Anglesey or Snowdonia, which IME are far more visually arresting than the otherwise pleasant Denbighshire lanes.
Simon E wrote:Couldn’t care
More to the point why did ITV waste half an hour of the programme speculating wildly about how the stage would pan out when there was clearly footage of the stage in progress being shown on the big screen behind them?
Man of Lard wrote:Simon E
More to the point why did ITV waste half an hour of the programme speculating wildly about how the stage would pan out when there was clearly footage of the stage in progress being shown on the big screen behind them?— Simon E
The one bit that stood out for me was one of the intermediate sprints. The bike camera was close up on the riders and you had no idea of when the sprint was actually coming.
Still, at least it was on ITV1 for once.