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5th Tour of Britain - 2.1
Great Britain, September 7-14, 2008
Main Page Results Overall standings Stage Details Next Stage
Stage 1 - September 7: London - London, 86km
Petacchi wins British opener
By Gerry McManus
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Alessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes) powered his way down the Victoria Embankment to win the bunch sprint and take the first stage of the Tour of Britain. Petacchi timed his effort perfectly to hold off a fast finishing Rob Hayles (Great Britain) and Magnus Backstedt (Garmin-Chipotle)
"The racing was very different today," said Petacchi: "The rhythm of the race was very difficult. I felt good today and my team did very good work. I am very happy with the victory today because I haven't been allowed to race for four months and it has been a very difficult time.
"Now I have started new life in a team and this win is very important for us," he added. "I stayed on Magnus Backstedt's wheel in the last two kilometres and was able to win the sprint from there. I slept well last night but I was little nervous this morning. I have only been training for four months and today wasn't easy for me."
The rain stayed away, except for some light drizzle on the London streets adjacent to the River Thames, with the race starting at a leisurely pace for the 156 riders on the eight kilometre circuit stretching from Big Ben to Tower Hill.
Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) was active throughout the stage and was a key member of the eight man break that was away for middle section of the race. Di Luca went clear with Chris Sutton (Garmin-Chipotle), Vicente Reynes (Team Columbia), Simon Clarke (SouthAustralia.com-AIS), Anders Lund (CSC - Saxo Bank), Tom Southam (Great Britain), Kristian House (Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk) and Daryl Impey (Barloworld).
Stuart O'Grady and his CSC-Saxobank team put the hammer down to bring back the escapees with two laps to go. Di Luca attacked again and could only dangle about 20 seconds off the front but he had forced the other teams to work hard in the closing stages.
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Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Columbia) was the next surprise attacker and the roadman sprinter proved that he can still time trial as he opened up a 15 second margin over the rest of the field. The Garmin-Chipotle riders were joined at the front by British team Plowman Craven, who helped to reduce Boasson Hagen's leading margin and the Norwegian was finally reeled in.
The race was altogether on the final lap with Petacchi attacking down the left hand side and opening up a clear lead in the final 200 metres. Hayles and Backstedt's were side by side battling for second spot with the British road race champion taking the verdict over the former Paris-Roubaix winner.
Italy's Petacchi had time to spare as he crossed the finish line to take the stage and the race leader's yellow jersey. This was the first victory for the Italian on his return to competition following an anti-doping suspension that ended on August 31.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Gerry McManus/www.gerrymcmanus.co.uk
- Allessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes) wins stage one by Westminster Bridge in London.
- Petacchi (LPR Brakes) makes a successful come back to competition.
- This is the first time Petacchi has ridden in his new team LPR Brakes colours.
- Big Ben watches over the peloton.
- Anders Lund (CSC-Saxobank) leads the break.
- Romain Feillu (Agritubel) signs on to defend the title he won last year.
- Simon Clarke (SouthAustralia.com /AIS) leads Italian Danilo Di Luca in the break as they reach Westminster.
- Simon Richardson (Plowman Craven) stays with the pace in the main field.
- The Topsport Vlaanderen team hit the front to reduce the leaders' margin.
- Britain’s, Roger Hammond (Team Columbia) riding on home soil.
- Tom Southam (Great Britain) at the head of the race after he joined the break.
- Agritubel on the front as the bunch is all together with one lap to go..
- Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) during his solo attempt to win the stage.
- CSC Saxobank stagiere Jonathan Bellis at the sign on desk being looked after by Aussies Matt Goss and Stuart O'Grady.
- Garmin Chipotle's national champions Daniel Martin (Ireland) and Julian Dean (New Zealand).
- Nicolas Vogondy and his Agritubel team mates meet the Tour of Britain mascot.
Results
1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 1.51.54 (46.112 km/h) 2 Rob Hayles (GBr) Great Britain 3 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 4 Dean Downing (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 5 Rahsaan Bahati (USA) Rock Racing 6 Roger Hammond (GBr) Team Columbia 7 Kristof Goddaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 8 Robbie Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 9 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 10 Jonathan Bellis (GBr) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 11 Johnnie Walker (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 12 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 13 Russell Downing (GBr) Pinarello RT - Canditv 14 Kenny Lisabeth (Bel) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 15 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 16 Ian Stannard (GBr) Great Britain 17 Martin Garrido (Arg) Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 18 Daryl Impey (RSA) Barloworld 19 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 20 Dale Appleby (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 21 Paul Sneeboer (Ned) Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 22 Jonathan McEvoy (GBr) Great Britain 23 Ben Swift (GBr) Great Britain 24 Claudio Cucinotta (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 25 Tom Murray (GBr) Pinarello RT - Canditv 26 Daniel Lloyd (GBr) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 27 Neil McDonald (RSA) MTN Energade 28 Alejandro Marque (Spa) Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 29 Juan Van Heerden (RSA) MTN Energade 30 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 31 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Agritubel 32 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Rock Racing 33 Simon Richardson (GBr) Plowman Craven RT 34 Andrew Roche (Irl) Pinarello RT - Canditv 35 Evan Oliphant (GBr) Plowman Craven RT 36 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Rock Racing 37 Travis Meyer (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 38 Simon Gaywood (GBr) Plowman Craven RT 39 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Great Britain 40 Waylon Woolcock (RSA) MTN Energade 41 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Columbia 42 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 43 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Barloworld 44 Rhys Lloyd (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 45 Malcolm Elliott (GBr) Pinarello RT - Canditv 46 Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team Columbia 47 Stephen Gallagher (Irl) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 48 Peter Williams (GBr) Pinarello RT - Canditv 49 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 50 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 51 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 52 David George (RSA) MTN Energade 53 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 54 Jay Thomson (RSA) MTN Energade 55 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 56 Kevin Evans (RSA) MTN Energade 57 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Rock Racing 58 Tom Southam (GBr) Great Britain 59 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia 60 Emilien Berges (Fra) Agritubel 61 Kristian House (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 62 Diego Caccia (Ita)Barloworld 63 Rob Partridge (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 64 Daniel Fleeman (GBr) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 65 Dan Martin (Irl) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 66 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 67 Bradley McGee (Aus) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 68 Hugo Sabido (Por) Barloworld 69 Tomas Swift-Metcalfe (GBr) Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 70 Paidi O'Brien (Irl) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 71 Steve Cummings (GBr) Barloworld 72 Cameron Meyer (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 73 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 74 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 75 Chris Newton (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 76 Trent Lowe (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 77 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 78 Julian Dean (NZl) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 79 Tom Barras (GBr) Plowman Craven RT 80 Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Columbia 81 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 82 David Blanco (Spa) Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 83 Koen Barbé (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 84 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 85 Juan Gomis (Spa) Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 86 Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 87 Victor Hugo Pena (Col) Rock Racing 88 Lee Davis (GBr) Pinarello RT - Canditv 89 Santiago Botero (Col) Rock Racing 90 Simon Clarke (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 91 Gabriele Bosisio (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 92 James Millard (GBr) Plowman Craven RT 93 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Columbia 94 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 95 Chris Sutton (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 0.28 DQ James Millard (GBr) Plowman Craven RT Points 1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 15 pts 2 Rob Hayles (GBr) Great Britain 14 3 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 13 4 Dean Downing (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 12 5 Rahsaan Bahati (USA) Rock Racing 11 6 Roger Hammond (GBr) Team Columbia 10 7 Kristof Goddaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 9 8 Robbie Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 8 9 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 7 10 Jonathan Bellis (GBr) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 6 11 Johnnie Walker (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 5 12 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 4 13 Russell Downing (GBr) Pinarello RT - Canditv 3 14 Kenny Lisabeth (Bel) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 2 15 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 1 Mountains Cat 3. Tower Hill Lap 2 1 Ben Swift (GBr) Great Britain 4 pts 2 Kristian House (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 3 3 Johnnie Walker (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 2 4 Julian Dean (NZl) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 1 Cat 3. Tower Hill Lap 6 1 Kristian House (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 4 pts 2 Tom Southam (GBr) Great Britain 3 3 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 2 4 Chris Sutton (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 1 Cat 3. Tower Hill Lap 8 1 Kristian House (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 4 pts 2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 3 3 Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team Columbia 2 4 Ben Swift (GBr) Great Britain 1 Sprints Lap 3 1 Daryl Impey (RSA) Barloworld 5 pts 2 Chris Sutton (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 3 3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 2 4 Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team Columbia 1 Lap 5 1 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 5 pts 2 Daryl Impey (RSA) Barloworld 3 3 Chris Sutton (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 2 4 Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team Columbia 1 Lap 7 1 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 5 pts 2 Chris Sutton (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 3 3 Daryl Impey (RSA) Barloworld 2 4 Simon Clarke (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 1 TfL BoBB Primes Lap 2 1 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen Lap 4 1 Kristian House (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk Lap 6 1 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank Teams 1 Great Britain 5.35.42 2 SouthAustralia.com - AIS 3 Agritubel 4 Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 5 Rapha - Condor - Recycling.co. 6 Barloworld 7 Team CSC - Saxo Bank 8 Pinarello RT - Candi TV 9 Rock Racing 10 An Post M.Donnelly 11 Topsport Vlaanderen 12 Team Columbia 13 MTN Energade 14 LPR Brakes - Ballan 15 Plowman Craven RT 16 Garmin - Chipotle General classification after stage 1 1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 1.51.44 2 Rob Hayles (GBr) Great Britain 0.04 3 Daryl Impey (RSA) Barloworld 4 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 5 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 0.06 6 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 0.09 7 Dean Downing (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 0.10 8 Rahsaan Bahati (USA) Rock Racing 9 Roger Hammond (GBr) Team Columbia 10 Kristof Goddaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 11 Robbie Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 12 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 13 Jonathan Bellis (GBr) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 14 Johnnie Walker (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 15 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 16 Russell Downing (GBr) Pinarello RT - Canditv 17 Kenny Lisabeth (Bel) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 18 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 19 Ian Stannard (GBr) Great Britain 20 Martin Garrido (Arg) Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 21 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 22 Dale Appleby (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 23 Paul Sneeboer (Ned) Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 24 Jonathan McEvoy (GBr) Great Britain 25 Ben Swift (GBr) Great Britain 26 Claudio Cucinotta (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 27 Tom Murray (GBr) Pinarello RT - Canditv 28 Daniel Lloyd (GBr) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 29 Neil McDonald (RSA) MTN Energade 30 Alejandro Marque (Spa) Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 31 Juan Van Heerden (RSA) MTN Energade 32 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 33 Steven Caethoven (Bel) Agritubel 34 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Rock Racing 35 Simon Richardson (GBr) Plowman Craven RT 36 Andrew Roche (Irl) Pinarello RT - Canditv 37 Evan Oliphant (GBr) Plowman Craven RT 38 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Rock Racing 39 Travis Meyer (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 40 Simon Gaywood (GBr) Plowman Craven RT 41 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Great Britain 42 Waylon Woolcock (RSA) MTN Energade 43 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Columbia 44 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel 45 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Barloworld 46 Rhys Lloyd (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 47 Malcolm Elliott (GBr) Pinarello RT - Canditv 48 Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team Columbia 49 Stephen Gallagher (Irl) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 50 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 51 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 52 David George (RSA) MTN Energade 53 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 54 Jay Thomson (RSA) MTN Energade 55 Benny De Schrooder (Bel) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 56 Kevin Evans (RSA) MTN Energade 57 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Rock Racing 58 Tom Southam (GBr) Great Britain 59 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia 60 Emilien Berges (Fra) Agritubel 61 Kristian House (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 62 Diego Caccia (Ita)Barloworld 63 Rob Partridge (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 64 Daniel Fleeman (GBr) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 65 Dan Martin (Irl) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 66 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 67 Bradley McGee (Aus) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 68 Hugo Sabido (Por) Barloworld 69 Tomas Swift-Metcalfe (GBr) Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 70 Paidi O'Brien (Irl) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 71 Steve Cummings (GBr) Barloworld 72 Cameron Meyer (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 73 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 74 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 75 Chris Newton (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 76 Trent Lowe (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 77 Julian Dean (NZl) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 78 Tom Barras (GBr) Plowman Craven RT 79 Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Columbia 80 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 81 David Blanco (Spa) Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 82 Koen Barbé (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 83 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 84 Juan Gomis (Spa) Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 85 Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 86 Victor Hugo Pena (Col) Rock Racing 87 Lee Davis (GBr) Pinarello RT - Canditv 88 Santiago Botero (Col) Rock Racing 89 Simon Clarke (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 90 Gabriele Bosisio (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 91 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Columbia 92 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 93 Peter Williams (GBr) Pinarello RT - Canditv 0.20 94 James Millard (GBr) Plowman Craven RT 0.30 95 Chris Sutton (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 0.33 Points Competition 1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 15 pts 2 Rob Hayles (GBr) Great Britain 14 3 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 13 4 Dean Downing (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 12 5 Rahsaan Bahati (USA) Rock Racing 11 6 Roger Hammond (GBr) Team Columbia 10 7 Kristof Goddaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen 9 8 Robbie Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 8 9 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 7 10 Jonathan Bellis (GBr) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 6 11 Johnnie Walker (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 5 12 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 4 13 Russell Downing (GBr) Pinarello RT - Canditv 3 14 Kenny Lisabeth (Bel) AnPost-M.Donnelly-GrantThornton-SeanKellyTeam 2 15 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 1 Mountains Competition 1 Kristian House (GBr) Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk 11 pts 2 Ben Swift (GBr) Great Britain 5 3 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 3 4 Tom Southam (GBr) Great Britain 3 5 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 2 6 Johnnie Walker (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 2 7 Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team Columbia 2 8 Julian Dean (NZl) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 1 9 Chris Sutton (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 1 Sprints Competition 1 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 10 pts 2 Daryl Impey (RSA) Barloworld 10 3 Chris Sutton (Aus) Team Garmin-Chipotle-presnted by H30 8 4 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes - Ballan 2 5 Vicente Reynes (Spa) Team Columbia 2 6 Simon Clarke (Aus) South Australia.com-AIS 1 Team Classification 1 Great Britain 5.35.42 2 SouthAustralia.com - AIS 3 Agritubel 4 Palmeiras Resort - Tavira 5 Rapha - Condor - Recycling.co. 6 Barloworld 7 Team CSC - Saxo Bank 8 Pinarello RT - Candi TV 9 Rock Racing 10 An Post M.Donnelly 11 Topsport Vlaanderen 12 Team Columbia 13 MTN Energade 14 LPR Brakes - Ballan 15 Plowman Craven RT 16 Garmin - Chipotle
