Elia Viviani of Team Sky has won his second stage of the Aviva Tour of Britain, outsprinting Juan Jose Lobato fof Movistar and Etixx-Quick Step's Matteo Trentin at Floors Castle as the race headed into Scotland.
With overnight leader Petr Vakoc of Etixx-Quick Step crashing just 4 kilometres from the end of the 216 kilometre stage from Cockermouth in Cumbria, the overall lead passing to Lobato.
Earlier, a six-man break included had included Jon McEvoy of and as the only member of the group who presented a threat to the overall leader, Etixx-Quick Step led the chase to defend the jersey.
Once the group split and McEvoy was out of the equation, tailed off along with fellow break members Aidis Kruopis of An Post-Chain Raction and Cult Energy's Russ Downing, the Belgian team eased off the gas at the front of the peloton
With 30 kilometres left the remaining trio - Tyler Farrar of MTN-Qhubeka, Marcin Bialoblocki of ONE Pro Cycling and Madison-Genesis rider Matt Cronshaw - had an advantage of more than four minutes.
But by the time Farrar had completed a clean sweep of the day’s three Skoda KOM climbs, that had been halved to a little over two minutes
Behind them, Tom Stewart of Madison-Genesis and NFTO’s Ian Bibby fought it out for the 3 points still on offer in the Skoda KOM contest, which stays with Stewart.
With Lotto-Soudal leading the chase, as well as Sky's Ian Stannard who put in a characteristically big turn, the break was swept up ahead of that late crash, which left Vakoc sitting by the roadside receiving treatment for a wrist injury as the yellow jersey slipped away.
That is a pity, Malcolm had a great reputation and spent a lot of time posting his no-nonsense advice gained over many years on Bikeradar....
It's a mark of how weak your pompous pontificating is that you're forced to make up things I never said in order to try to defend your "look at me...
I don't think it would be a great idea to pass behind a vehicle with a big blind spot, especially on a penny farthing.
Got mine at Aldi - they are rejuvenated if you wash them.
'I was so lucky that I was doing the speed limit' (!) http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17d598vj0qo
It's mentioned in benefit #2 in the article...
Pneu ballon and hookless rims are back, I still have some 27" Birmalux rims in the shed somewhere.
Well yes, but it is the holidays
I have the gross misfortune to live on her "patch". The state of roads policing (and the actual roads) and consequent danger everytime one gets on...
Thank you for that excellent forensic analysis, I couldn't figure out where I'd gone wrong! Must drink more coffee and put on glasses before trying...