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RACE REPORTS: TOUR OF BRITAIN STAGE 7: SWIFT STEALS STAGE SEVEN
Road Bike Action & AFP
September 18, 2009
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Australia's Chris Sutton insists he will not be heading to London simply to take in the sights despite seeing the Tour of Britain yellow jersey slip further from his grasp on the penultimate day of the race on Friday. Sutton took victory in stage one of the eight-day race but has since been powerless to stop Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen chalking up four stage victories to establish a commanding overall classification lead.
Friday's penultimate 159.7km stage from Hatherleigh to Yeovil was won by Britain's Ben Swift, with Sutton, deprived of the services of his Garmin-Slipstream team-mate Bradley Wiggins, forced to settle for eighth. That leaves the Sydney-born cyclist fourth in the General Classification at 28-seconds, but Sutton is adamant there is plenty to play for in the final stage - a 92km criterium around London on Saturday.
"I thought I did alright out there - I went out on the attack and tried to get a few sprint bonuses," said Sutton. "With Bradley Wiggins leaving for the week it makes it really hard to get any kind of control over the race. We only have four riders out there when other teams have got six and they can go out there and control the race as they wish. I'm going to go to London and really give it my all and go for the sprint bonuses and see what can happen. I'm going to go really hard and even if I don't do what I want in the GC I can hopefully get a stage win. "I knew when I came here that I could potentially win two or three stages and I would love to achieve that in London."
Sutton is not the only Australian occupying the top ten of the General Classification, with ISD-Neri rider Simon Clarke currently lying in eighth place. And Sutton revealed it will be a case of mission accomplished if he can put the finishing touches to a so far successful tour in the English capital. "Anything can happen out there and things can go wrong for people so I'm not giving up anything yet," he added. "When I came here at the start of the week I quietly thought I could maybe push for the top ten in the GC and if I achieve that it will be a good week."
Tour of Britain Stage 7, 159.7km
1. Ben Swift (GBr/Katusha) 3:52:19
2. Filippo Pozzato (Ita/Katusha) @ s.t.
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor/Columbia-HTC)
4. Mauro Finetto (Ita/CSF Group-Navigare)
5. Alan Marangoni (Ita/CSF Group-Navigare)
6. Geraint Thomas (GBr/Barloworld)
7. Kai Reus (Ned/Rabobank)
8. Christopher Sutton (Aus/Garmin-Slipstream)
9. Kristof Vandewalle (Bel/Topsport Vlaanderen)
10. Huub Duyn (Ned/Garmin-Slipstream)
General Classification After Stage 7
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor/Columbia-HTC) 26:09:32
2. Kai Reus (Ned/Rabobank) @ .23
3. Martin Reimer (Ger/Cervelo) @ .25
4. Christopher Sutton (Aus/Garmin-Slipstream) @ .28
5. Russell Downing (GBr/Candi TV-Pinarello RT) @ .37
6. Geraint Thomas (GBr/Barloworld) @ .40
7. Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra/Agritubel) @ .43
8. Simon Clarke (Aus/ISD) @ .44
9. Reinier Honig (Ned/Vacansoleil) @ .46
10. Kristian House (GBr/Rapha Condor) @ s.t. |
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