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Tour
of Britain Diary |
| Nick Nuyens of Belgium - last year's winner |
The Tour of Britain kicked-off in Glasgow on Tuesday morning with a 101.1 mile haul from Glasgow to Castle Douglas.
Last year Evan Oliphant (Recycling) grabbed an excellent second place on a stage behind Russian champion Sergei Ivanov (T-Mobile).
This year he’ll be talking to VeloResults every day after the stage, we caught-up with him before the stage whilst he was stocking-up on victuals for the stage and receiving a light massage.
To set the scene Evan, tell us about your palmares for 2006. "I’ve won a couple of decent races in England – The Ryedale Classic for one; but I also won a stage in the Tour of Wellington in New Zealand earlier in the year and I got second on a stage in the Tour of Langkawi."
What’s the game-plan for this Tour? "I’m just going to see how it goes and keep trying to get with a good move. You won’t see much of me today; I don’t want to kill myself too early in the race."
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Evan was in the Recycling team car, heading for Blackpool but stuck in traffic when I reached him on the mobile phone after the stage.
Blackpool? Are you going to the Freddy Starr show tonight then? "No, I don’t think so."
I believe the break went early and stayed away? "The first hour was easy, 20 mph stuff. The three guys who went away, Martin Pedersen (Denmark CSC), Luis Pasamontes (Spain/Unibet) Matt Goss ( South Australia) was the order at the line] had 6 minutes in no time, the maximum they had was around 11 minutes. The speed in the bunch went-up at the end but it wasn’t too bad and the break still had two and a half minutes at the death."
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Martin Pedersen wins Stage One |
How did you fare in the bunch sprint? "It was only for fourth and Chicchi won it, I was 18 th."
What was it like riding with the big pros again? "I was surprised, every time there was a wee spec of rain they were back at the car putting capes on and Kloden climbed-off at the feed."
Who impressed you today? "Boonen did a lot of work on the front today, I was surprised by that and I don’t think that Quick Step are going to let the race go so easily."
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| Scottish Pro, Alex Coutts |
A good day or a bad one for Recycling? "We had no one in the break, so that’s not great and Chris Newton crashed with 7 K to go, but he only has scratches."
How do you see tomorrow going? "I think that Quick Step will go on the attack early to try and split it on the three big climbs which come early on the stage. We rode those climbs in training the other week, so we know what to expect.".
Tomorrow’s stage goes from Blackpool to Liverpool, the three big climbs come early and there is 100 K after the last summit to get back-on. If Quick Step aren’t driving the echelons that is.
Stage 2 - Wednesday 30th August, 2006
Evan was out of the team car and just off the massage table when we caught-up with him after the second stage, into Liverpool, won by GB man Roger Hammond.
Those hills didn't do as much damage as we thought then? “No, that's true. Two Lotto guys (Belgians, Johan Van Summeren and Bert Roesems) jumped-away early and led over all three climbs. CSC seemed happy with that and just rode tempo on all three hills. I climbed them on 39 x 21 + 23 so it wasn't too hard but even so, a few guys were dropped.”
What was your job today? “It was to keep Ben Greenwood in a good position and out of the wind until the bottom of the first climb. I did that and he jumped away and solo-ed over all three between the two leaders and the bunch. He got third on all three climbs then sat-up. The game-plan is to try and take the jersey tomorrow.”
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| Evan gets his legs done before the start |
The race lead changed today didn't it ? “Yes, Goss (Aussie, Matt Goss now leads by a couple of seconds from stage one winner and first race-leader Martin Pedersen of CSC) took some bonuses to get the jersey but I can't see CSC losing the race; they are just so strong and Goss didn't look too comfortable on the climbs today. I don't see how any body can take two and a half minutes back from Pedersen and CSC.”
What happened after the hills? “CSC rode on the front virtually all the way. Unibet helped them; they would be defending for their Spanish guy (Luis Pasamontes) who is lying second overall.”
What was the finale like ? “The last part of the stage was very flat, Robin Sharman from our team got away with the Danish guy Morkov at ten to go and they stayed away until three to go. It was a bit of an unusual finish, zig-zagging around a dual carriageway. Boonen was up-there with a kilometre to go but lost his line somewhere.”
What's the script for tomorrow? “We don't have our team meet until the morning, so it's not been decided yet but it will be to get Ben into the Mountains jersey. There's one or two climbs early then it's flat until the last 50 K when it's very hard hills-wise.”
Veloresults will be talking to Evan after stage three.
Stage 3 - Thursday 31st August, 2006
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| Filippo Pozzato |
We caught-up with Evan after a wet and wild stage three, won by the mmaculately coiffed 2006 Milan-San Remo winner, Filippo Pozzato (Italy & Quick Step); our man had just finished dinner.
What was on the menu? “Pasta and chicken, it was OK.”
It was a tough stage today I believe. “It was full-on from the gun, after an hour or so the whole CSC team were away but Barloworld brought them back. At about half distance we turned a corner it became a cross-wind, CSC went into team time trial mode and it just split to pieces.
There were about 35/40 guys at the front, the whole CSC team was there; then Kristan House from our squad made the split. I was in the second group and initially Lotto was chasing hard but then they sat-up and the gap just soared.”
Why did they sit-up, weren’t they making ground? “I think the main reason is that the Tour of Poland starts next week and they don’t want to ride themselves into the ground before that.”
After that you would just ride-in then? “That was all we could do. It was raining hard, some of the descents were very dangerous and to make matters worse they had to re-route the stage because of a gas explosion near the race route - that added about ten miles to the distance. It was pretty grim at the end.”
Boonen crashed on one of the descents didn’t he? “Yes, but I don’t think he did any damage, you can only get round that corner at about 10 mph, he couldn’t have been going much faster than that. We had ridden it in training so we knew what to expect.”
How is Ben Greenwood’s pursuit of the King of the Mountains going? “He’s not happy about how the day went. He took the first climb without too much problem but didn’t get any more points because he missed the split.”
Pedersen took the jersey back didn’t he? “Yes, Goss (Aussie, Matt Goss who took the jersey after stage two) climbed-off. He hadn’t looked too great on the climbs the day before. I think it’s very unlikely that Pedersen can be beaten now.”
What’s the game-plan for tomorrow? “I’m going to try and do a repeat of last year when I was away with Paul Manning (Landbouwkrediet) all day. He lives near the course so he’ll be motivated for the stage.
Stage 4 - Friday 1st September, 2006
In the next day’s stage four, Manning did indeed go up the road. Third place on the stage was the reward for his efforts, behind Mark Cavendish (GB and T-Mobile) and the winner, crafty Frederik Willems (Belgium & Chocolade Jacques).
There was no sign of our-boy in the top rankings though – how come Evan? “I knew Manning would go early and I was keeping an eye out for him making a move but he didn’t seem to be interested. I made a few digs myself but there were little groups trying to go all the time, just hovering off the front then getting caught. At around 20 K Manning and another seven got away but I missed it. That was the break of the day - I wished I’d stayed with him now.”
CSC was happy to let it go? “I don’t think they had much choice the break was going really well; we had a guy in it, Dale Appleby.”
I heard there was a bit of controversy at the end? “Yeah, the Belgian guy who won went round the last roundabout the wrong way to get the gap, I don’t think Manning would have won though – he would probably have been second behind Cavendish.”
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| Koen Barbe |
How is Ben’s going in the King of the Mountains? “He’s joint-second behind Andy Schleck (Luxembourg & CSC), seven points adrift.
"There are climbs tomorrow so there’s a chance he can close the gap.
"It all depends how committed CSC are to keeping the mountains jersey, the overall is the big thing for them obviously. There’s £1,500 for the mountains prize so they won’t want to let that go.”
Are CSC beginning to tire with all the work they have been doing? “They still seem strong, they don’t let guys who are in the top six go, but there are always guys just outside the top placings trying to slip into breaks. I think the top ten is decided now though, I can’t see it changing before the finish.”
What is the game-plan for tomorrow’s Rochester-Canterbury stage? “There’s been a severe weather warning for tomorrow, rain and gales, it would be better being in a break than in the bunch, so I think I’ll try and get up the road!”
VeloResults will be talking to Evan again after Saturday’s stage.
Stage 5 - Saturday 2nd September, 2006
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| Michael Morkov |
“What are you doing, you red fu**er?” The words of world champion, Tom Boonen (Belgium & Quick Step) to Danish rider, Michael Morkov when the youngster attacked, on team orders, in contravention of a Boonen-imposed ban on racing in yesterday’s stage of the Tour of Britain. As well as following Evan’s progress around Britain, I’ve been talking to Michael Morkov for pezcyclingnews.com.
Before we hear what Evan has to say I thought you should hear Michael’s story from yesterday.
Tell us what happened, Michael. “It was very irritating. We came here to race, not to get involved in this. The motor cyclists took us the wrong way in the neutral section and there was a delay to get the race back moving through the traffic. Michael Rogers (world time trial champion, Australia & T-Mobile) and Boonen became very angry at the delay and said: ‘We don’t race.’
"The little teams like us and the English guys got angry too because we wanted to race, but what can you say to the world champion? My manager had to work hard to get us into the race, so the organisers came to him when the ‘go-slow’ happened and said: ‘Hey, we let you into the race, we need you to help us now, get your guys to race.’ My manager was saying to me: ‘You must attack’. I was reluctant, but eventually I went up the road. That’s when Boonen came up to me.
"I said: ‘I’m just doing what I’m told’. Boonen said: ‘Take you ear-piece out and ignore it – we don’t race!’”
Evan’s take on events was pretty forthright...
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What caused it all to go-off Evan? “They didn’t want to race. The Pro Tour guys are all thinking about the Tour of Poland next week and they were just looking for an excuse not to race.
"They were saying that race-security has been poor, but it’s no worse than I’m used to; like I said I just don’t think they wanted to race.”
So how did it all start Evan? “The motor bike police took us the wrong way in the neutralised section and there was a delay, because the traffic had to be cleared again on the route it took a while to get things moving again. It was then that Boonen sat down and they started joking about not racing, it got more serious and they said that they weren’t going to race for the first 30 ks as a protest.”
Who was prime-mover behind the boycott? "It was Boonen. He chased me and the Danish guy (Michael Morkov) down after we went up the road and started ranting at us."
Was it team-orders to go-up the road? “Yes, John (Recycling manager and former British pro champion, John Herety) had been talking to the organisers and they were encouraging him to try and get the ball rolling so we went on the offensive, but Boonen put paid to that.”
Wasn’t the boycott initially meant to be for 30 ks? “Yes, that was what the team managers had agreed anyway but it’s the second string guys who are managing the teams here, the top management are all at the Vuelta so the riders were just ignoring the guys in the cars.”
What are the rest of the guys in the team saying? “Ben was going to try and grab the King of the Mountains yesterday but when he went to go for points they were jamminghim in. He’s very disappointed, but there’s a K.O.M. today so he’ll go for that to try and secure second in the competition.
"Kristan (Recycling leader, Kristan House) was very disappointed too. The stage went through his home area, all his friends and supporters were out to watch him and we rode past at 20 miles per hour. He was going to try and snatch bonuses to move-up into the top ten but it got worse at the finish because they said that there would be no sprint at the end.
"Instead, Quick Step went for it; Chicchi (2002 world under-23 champion of Italy & Quick Step) won the sprint but Kristan was at the back after just riding-in and he lost a lot of places in the GC.”
Do you think there was any substance to the protest? “They were saying that the race-security in general was poor, but like I said it wasn’t that bad in my opinion. It was ironic too because there were good crowds despite the rain. It would have been a really hard stage if it had gone ahead though – probably the hardest of the race.”
What’s the prognosis for Sunday? “John (manager Herety) has said that the run-in to London will be dangerous; there are no crowd-control barriers until the circuit so we’re just going to cruise in to the city.”
Tom Boonen-willing, we’ll be talking to Evan after that final stage in the centre of London this afternoon.
Stage 6 - Sunday 3rd September, 2006
We caught-up with Evan at Stanstead Airport on Sunday night, en route to Edinburgh.
A lift to the airport from the GB squad bound for Italia and a cheapo Easyjet flight meant he would be home just hours after racing in central London.
Tom Boonen went from villain to hero in 24 hours, winning the final stage to take his total of wins to 20 for the season so far.
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| Boonen, hero again |
Boonen's controversial protest the day before, when he and his fellow Pro Tour riders staged a 'go slow', only racing for the last few kilometers, was forgotten as the charismatic big Belgian distanced Britain's Roger Hammond and Mark Cavendish in the charge for the line.
Boonen and Co's protest over race safety was apparently validated by events during the final stage when two race motor bikes collided and crashed into the crowd causing a number of injuries, some serious. Evan was unaware of the severity of the incident due to his charge to catch the plane.
His feelings during the race had been that race safety wasn't any worse or better than other races he had ridden The Pro Tour riders expect higher standards though and Danish pro Michael Morkov said to me that there had been occasions where there were 'civilian' cars dangerously mixed-up with the race.
How did today go? “It went OK for us, Ben (Recycling team mate Ben Greenwood) took the only King of the Mountains points on offer so he got second place overall in the K o M. John (manager, Herety) said to me to get some TV time for our sponsor, so I was up the road for two and a half laps on the circuit with a Danish guy. He couldn't come-through but at least I was live on TV.”
Boonen took the stage didn’t he? “Yes, from Hammond (Roger, GB) and Cavendish (Mark, T-Mobile). Pedersen took the overall but that was on the cards all the way through the race.”
What were the crowds like in central London? “They were huge, not just on the circuit but on the way-in too, I think they are the biggest crowds I've ever seen at any race.”
It looks like you are coming out of the race with good form then? “Yes, but there are no races left. I was going to ride that stage race up at Inverness next weekend but it's been cancelled. I'm going to concentrate on the track champs and the Trossachs time trial now I think.”
Is Recycling set to continue next season? “I think so, but maybe on a smaller scale.”
Thank's Evan, we'll let you get your plane now.
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Email: editor@veloresults.co.uk