TRINITY Racing graduate Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) took a convincing sprint win from a reduced bunch finish on the opening stage of the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men in Kelso.
Report
Clear blue skies welcomed the peloton as it rolled out of Kelso for a 181.9km stage through the Scottish Borders featuring 1,885m of climbing, including five categorised ascents.
Three riders – Callum Ormiston (Global 6 United), Callum Thornley (TRINITY Racing) and Julius Johansen (Sabgal / Anicolor) – formed the break of the day although the peloton, controlled by Soudal Quick-Step, kept the trio on a tight leash.
Thornley made the most of his time out front, winning the first four of King of the Mountains climbs to become the stage 1 leader of the mountains classification. Johansen’s time in the break was also productive, victorious in all three of the intermediate sprints. That earned him nine bonus seconds and the points classification jersey.
Ahead of the penultimate climb, Scott’s View, Ineos Grenadiers hit the front, sparking a frenetic finale to the stage that saw the peloton continuously fracturing.
On the final climb, with all three breakaway riders now caught (Johansen the last man standing), several big names were active including Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Kelso local Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious).
A regrouping of sorts resulted in a 60-strong bunch heading for a sprint finish into Kelso, Ineos Grenadiers and and Soudal Quick-Step jockeying for position before they hit the cobbled finishing straight. Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grendadiers) sprint hopes were dashed as he took a key corner too wider, losing 20 places in the process, leaving teammate Tom Pidcock scrambling to contest the finale in his stead.
After a textbook leadout from his Soudal Quick-Step team, however, it was the French TRINITY Racing graduate Paul Magnier who took a commanding win on the cobbles of Kelso. Britain’s Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) took second, with Bob Donaldson from British development team TRINITY Racing rounding out the podium.
20-year-old Magnier will wear the leader’s jersey for stage 2 tomorrow from Darlington to Redcar courtesy of the bonus seconds he won on the line, with breakaway rider Johansen just one second back.
Results
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