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Tour of Britain 09 - stage 3 · 14/09/09


Photo gallery by Mark Phillips.

After two difficult days on the race, Darren Lapthorne’s 2009 Tour of Britain erupted into life today with a ride that sums up the idea of ‘glory through suffering’ as he broke away with three riders on what turned out to be an epic stage between Peebles and Gretna.

Jumping across with Rob Ruygh of Vaconsoleil to a two man move that formed early in the stage, Darren became part of a group of four that quickly gained a 3 and a half minute lead on the main bunch.

After the stage Darren shared his recollection of the moment the move went clear.

“I saw two guys up the road and it was either just close enough to jump across to and luckily the peloton didn’t react so, yeah, I like that type of move.”

The early moments of the breakaway were difficult ones with the two initial escapees Martin Reimer and Thomas de Gendt almost at the point of no return for anyone looking to bridge across:

At first it was extremely difficult, because there were two riders up the road and I had to jump across and luckily I had an old team mate of mine actually from last year, from Vacansoleil, he came across with me so we worked together to get across. Once we got across it was actually a nice feeling just to be in the break, to be in the race again. A good group of riders to work with.

In saying how good it felt to be in the race again, Darren alluded to what have been a difficult opening two days on the race. He was clearly happy to have his racing head on again;

It was good just to be in the race, the last couple of days I haven’t been feeling great and just to be back in it was definitely a good feeling.

Without a bunch sprinter in the team, Rapha Condor has been trying to put a rider in breakaways since the start of the race in Scunthorpe and although ultimately he was caught, Darren’s ride today was a success for the team giving them valuable TV airtime and a renewed confidence of being able to compete at this level of the sport. I spoke to Dan Craven after he crossed the line and asked him how it felt out on the road today having a man in the move:

A great ride, after losing so much time in the first two days it was great that he was able to just go out there and you know, prove a point. That was really cool. Everyone was trying to get in the break but when Lappers jumped it just, straight away it looked good, a typical Lappers floating away from everyone kind of move. I’m just really really glad it was him that got away.

Today was also a day marked by multiple punctures on rough and difficult roads in the final hour of racing with no team unaffected across the peloton. Simon Richardson’s experience was typical of many in the bunch on the day.

“Two punctures in the last 25km, the last one was on that singletrack road, I got about 25m off the back of the bunch just as they crossed the line, it’s was just guys everywhere with punctures, bad roads, gravel, the works.”

And as if that wasn’t enough, Darren, the hero of the day also suffered a double puncture just as he was caught by the main peloton leaving him to trail in a number of minutes after the peloton. However, at least that meant that his teammates were all waiting for him as he returned to the team motorhome and he deservedly received the applause and congratulations from all quarters of the team as he slumped down into a chair to have his legs rubbed down before the transfer to Blackpool for stage 5 tomorrow.

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