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Tour of Britain 09 - stage 5 · 16/09/09

Another day, another Lapthorne special – but Boassen Hagen Wins in Stoke.

It had looked like the first day that would split the race, it had hills, it had wind, it had narrow twisty roads, yet still the outcome of stage 5 of the race was the same as we have seen in the last two days. Edvald Boassen Hagen seemingly undefeatable on a road to Stoke where he had already taken victory this time last year.

For the Rapha Condor team it was another day of brave riding as they tried, numerous times, to place a rider in the breakaway move in the opening miles.

About 20 miles into the stage Darren Lapthorne was once again the Rapha Condor rider with the right combination to unlock the breakaway, forging clear with Dan Fleeman and CSF Navigare’s Alan Marangoni.

The trio quickly established a significant gap on the peloton. Only two riders made any significant attempt to bridge across, with Blaise Sonnery of AG2R failing before Nicolas Vogondy of Agritubel finally bridged to the move after a protracted chase and more than a little stalling from the break, enabling him to make the junction.

Working smoothly, the quartet achieved a maximum lead of 6 and a half minutes as they climbed Wooton Hill. As the race crossed the open expanses of the Staffordshire moorlands it was the Columbia team that grasped the initiative, bringing the lead down significantly as the race approached the Major climb of Gun Hill. Tom Southam from the team describes what happened out on the moors:

“It split immediately with Columbia, there was about ten of them and then Barloworld started riding behind, it never really got more than a few seconds. Columbia weren’t really committed to breaking it up, they didn’t need to so why would they bother.”

From there the lead continued to tumble. As the race approached Wedgewood it was Rapha Condor’s Darren Lapthorne who was the first to drop back to the bunch. At the finish he reflected on his second major breakaway move of the week:

“I thought there was a chance we could stay away for the finish but they really wound it up with about 20km to go. It’s been a bit of a long tour for me so far so I just had to call it a day when the peloton was only thirty seconds behind as I thought we were going to get caught anyway, but I think it was still successful. Just to make the break, that was the goal and to be represented up there and to be in the move twice in the tour so far so I’m pleased about that.

As the race sped into Stoke along the same finale as in 2008, it was Columbia that drove the pace and there was only going to be one outcome as Edvald Boasson Hagen triumphed in front of a vocal and appreciative crowd.

After the finish I caught up with Tom and Kristian from the team to get their reflections on the stage:

Tom Southam:

Not a lot to say, it’s just the same thing every day. I think definitely tomorrow [that the race will split], or the next day…or maybe it’ll just end like this, we go like this and it’ll just end a big wet damp squib.

I think it’ll just be controlled now, Columbia don’t look like they’re going to lose it, so I’ll just have to look for a breakaway.

Asked about Boassen Hagen, and what you can do against a rider at the peak of his powers Tom said:

“He’s the fastest on the flat, he’s the fastest on the hills, his team’s the best, they’ve got a good team here, you know, a good squad, all good riders really. They’re serious about winning it aren’t they.“

I asked Tom if today’s outcome affects how he approaches the next two days:

“Not really, I mean i’m not on the GC and I’m not out of it so if I do get in a break they’re not going to let me stay away which is kind of annoying. I’ll still be within a minute of the lead, as will Kristian so if we do get away it’ll be a break that gets pulled back I think, so we’ll just see what there is really.”

Kristian House:

“It went a couple of times early on. There’s a big group of ten or fifteen riders who got away but just one team must have missed out and they chased it down so it was a bit nervous. You think it’s going to go, I attacked a couple of times early on just to try and see what would happen, who would chase. I got away twice but it just came back.”

“Once Lappers (Darren Lapthorne) group went away you knew what kind of day it was going to be and after that you just had to pay attention and be at the front otherwise inevitably something would go but it didn’t. So here we are again.”

Lastly, as has been the case on many of the stages to date we had one of the Rapha Condor Club members in the car with us today. I caught up with Greg Rowe at the finish to find out how his day had gone, seeing the bike race from the best seat in the house:

“It was unbelievable, the feeling of the speed is the main thing you just don’t realise. And the DS see spots in roads that the general public driver doesn’t see! It was a fantastic experience today. To get a man in the break early on that stayed away for fifty miles gives you a fantastic view because you are right behind them.”

“There were amazing crowds on gun hill all the way up to the top and over race radio as well as the big crowds there was a lot of traffic parked all the way down. That made for a very hair raising descent!”

The race continues tomorow with a 114 mile stage form Froome to Bideford.

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