Tour triumph for Wirral cycling ace Steve

Sep 17 2008 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

WIRRAL cyclist Steve Cummings put in a superb ride to finish second in the Tour of Britain.

Alessandro Petacchi added a win on the banks of the River Mersey, to wins next to the Thames and Tyne, as he took victory in the final stage of the 2008 Tour of Britain in Liverpool, while Geoffroy Lequatre finished safely in the bunch to seal the overall victory.

Lequatre’s victory makes him not only the second consecutive French rider to win The Tour of Britain, but also the second consecutive Agritubel rider, a run which the team have vowed to extend to three wins in 2009.

Cummings narrowed his overall deficit to 5 seconds, by picking up second place at the penultimate Hot Spot Sprint behind compatriot Ian Stannard, who moved into third thanks to the three-second bonus.

In the other jersey classifications, Danilo Di Luca sealed victory in the E.ON King of the Mountains competition over last year’s winner Ben Swift, boosting his chances of selection for the Italian squad for this months World Championships, while triple stage winner Edvald Boasson Hagen picked up a point in the day’s opening Sprint to win the Sprints Jersey.

Fourth place on the stage allowed Matt Goss to edge Julian Dean to don the Points Jersey and Agritubel took the Teams Classification to go with their overall Yellow Jersey.

A frentic early start to the stage saw many riders trying to clear in the sunshine that greeted the peloton in Blackpool, before they rolled out through Lytham St Annes, along England’s North West coastline.

Eventually when an attack did stick, it contained Magnus Backstedt, Dean Downing and elder statesman of The Tour of Britain Malcolm Elliott. The trio built up a maximum lead of just under two minutes, but a watchful peloton were never going to let them get too far clear, especially with the finish being an ideal battleground for the sprinters of LPR Brakes, CSC and Garmin – Chipotle.

As the peloton entered the outskirts of Liverpool, the gap was hovering around the 30-second mark as the trio navigated their way onto the finishing circuit, for six fast paced laps that would decided the winner of The Tour of Britain.

Entering the circuit CSC – Saxo Bank took control, setting a fast pace as the peloton passed the massive crowds lining the finish area on The Strand. Turning left up into Liverpool, riders were met with yet more crowds as they rode past the Town Hall and onto the E.ON King of the Mountains climb outside the Walker Art Gallery and St George’s Hall.

By the third lap Backstedt was alone, his breakaway colleagues caught by the fast moving bunch. The big Swede lasted a further lap alone in front, but soon the frentic pace was too much for him also.

Such was the pace, it was very hard for any attackers to get clear, but as the peloton completed the fourth circuit, Stannard and Cummings dangled off the front, collecting the time bonuses on the line. Behind them race leader Lequatre took third as he and Agritubel maintained a watchful presence on the front of the field.

With two laps left, CSC ratcheted the pace even higher, with Chris Anker Sorensen and Bradley McGee both doing long hard turns on the front to set up Matt Goss for the sprint.

Exiting the hairpin on the final lap, it was CSC in positions one, two and three for the final ultra-fast run down to the finish line. Behind Goss in third position was double stage winner Petacchi, and when the Italian opened up the sprint, there was nothing the Australian could do as Petacchi led Julian Dean and Robbie Hunter past him for the 1-2-3.