Stage 1 Tour of Britain

Saturday 12 September, Scunthorpe to York 172.6kms/107.3miles

Chris Sutton, son of Garry Sutton and nephew of GB Team's Shane Sutton is in his element on the podium after a great sprint win on stage 1 of the Tour of Britain.

Result (full results at bottom of page)

1 Sutton,Chris AUS Garmin-Slipstream 4h07'59"
2 Merlo,Michel ITA Barloworld
3 Swift,Ben GBR Team Katusha
4 Downing,Russell GBR Candi-TV-Marshalls Pasta
5 Vanspeybrouck,Pieter BEL Topsport Vlaanderen
6 Honig,Reinier NED Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
7 Reimer,Martin GER Cervelo Test Team
8 Mondory,Lloyd FRA Ag2r La Mondiale
9 Wilkinson,Ian GBR Team Halfords
10 Mertens,Tim BEL Topsport Vlaanderen

Garmin-Slipstream's Aussie sprinter Chris Sutton benefitted from a great lead-out from Bradley Wiggins as he claimed the first stage of the 2009 Tour of Britain, in York. After an almost stage-long break by two riders was brought back almost within sight of the city walls, the result was settled in a closely contested sprint finish, with Sutton winning by perhaps a length from Michel Merlo and Ben Swift, who were shoulder-to-shoulder as they crossed the finishing line.

While Ben Swift (3rd) and Michael Merlo (2nd) lean on each other, Chris Sutton raises his arms in celebration of a victory for Team Garmin.

How the stage unfolded

The 2009 Tour of Britain began in Scunthorpe at 10.30am sharp, the riders rolling out under clear skies and a warm sun, more reminiscent of mid-summer than early autumn.

The warmth meant that the riders were not slow to get into the racing and within the first couple of miles attacks had started, with the long, largely flat stage, offering lots of potential for breaks to get away and stick.

Sure enough, Dane Martin Mortensen (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team) and Belgian Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen) found themselves alone off the front with barely 10 minutes of official racing behind them and by the half-hour mark they has a minute and a half over the peloton who were now slumbering, perhaps, in the unexpected heat.

Above: Dane Martin Mortensen (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team) and Belgian Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen) open up a gap on the peloton which after a short chase, sits up and is soon cruising at 15 mph while the break above get on with trying to make it a winning move.

The good weather meant that the usually large crowds out to see the race were further swelled and some of the lovely Humberside and East Yorkshire villages have probably not seen the like in many years.

This region is every bit as flat and exposed as the Fenlands, but the weather was kind with little or no wind to complicate matters for leaders or chasers. Actually, for much of the morning, you'd be overstating things to describe the activities of the peloton as 'chasing' and the leaders had an impressive lead of 12 minutes after 50km of racing.

After crossing the Humber, heading North, near Goole, the race performed a slow anti-clockwise loop to the East of the historic city of York, though some of Yorkshire's kinder landscapes, with flat agricultural land interspersed with pretty villages, stands of trees and large, slow moving rivers.

The two riders' lead peaked at the wonderfully named village of Swinefleet, at almost 13 minutes, but with the Rabobank, Garmin and Columbia teams showing increasing interest at the front of the peloton, the gap began to come down. An unfortunately timed level crossing closure - even the ToB has to wait for trains - cost the leaders almost 2 minutes and gave the chasers some heart.

With wind and rain completely off the agenda, the only real obstacle Nature could throw at the race was the Yorkshire Wolds, a beautiful ridge of hills to the NE of York which came at approximately 40km before the finish, topping out at little more than 200m above sea-level. The climbs, such as they are in this area, are not long but often deceptive and the roads are heavy under-wheel. As the leaders tired, the Wolds were the last thing they needed and the main field was able to eat swiftly into their once-comfortable time cushion.

The last picture of the two breakaways before BC's photographer had to leave the race with 30 miles to go  to try and make the finish

Having left the Wolds behind, it was a fast run South and into the city and it soon became clear that the race was going to come back together in time for its entry into York. Just to the north of the town of Stamford Bridge, the two leaders shook hands and drifted back into the main group after over 150km of hard work together and attention turned to the main field and the run in to the finish.

In the end it all came down to a closely contested sprint finish, with Aussie Chris Sutton winning by perhaps a length from Michel Merlo and Ben Swift, who were shoulder-to-shoulder as they crossed the finishing line. Afterwards, Sutton said that he'd be trying to hang on to the yellow jersey as long as possible, but that his main aim was to win the final stage in London.

Despite being caught within sight of glory, the breakaway riders didn't go away empty-handed, having carefully ensured that they divided up two of the main prizes, with Martin Mortensen claiming the mountains jersey and Thomas De Gendtthe sprints jersey. Whether they would have survived to the finish if not held up by that train mid-stage is anyone's guess, but they deserved their rewards.

Jersey winners on the podium.

Rider Reaction:

Chris Sutton (Garmin Slipstream)
"Wearing the yellow jersey in the race is one of the highlights of my career. I came so close to winning stages last year and to finally win one it is kind of nice. Our team is on a roll at the moment, we have had three victories in the last 24 hours. My teammates stuck there head out in the wind for me after I told them I was keen and motivated and they knew I wanted to win. I told them I can win three or four stages here so they rode on the front and they rode quite hard even though it is quite hard to control the bike race with only six riders and you take me out as the sprinter, you're down to five and we needed to keep Bradley for the final 3 or 4 kilometres so then we're down to four so it was hard for them."

Chris Sutton playing to the crowd on the podium

"Brad led me out and he nailed it at the front and so I owe him and the rest of the team  for this victory. It was a team victory. We pulled it off today and every team is in the same boat, and some only have five riders starting which makes it even harder for them but that's life."

On whether he can hang on to yellow, he says "anything is possible but we have to take it day-by-day. You can have good legs one day and not great the next. It is good for me because I didn't have great legs today and still won. I hope I can only get better from here."

"To win the overall is a big ask. I'd love to win the stage in London. That would be great and I think the next two days are crucial."

About the crowds, Chris said he was surprised by how many there were in Scunthorpe. "The weather is nice here so the British are going to take advantage of what good weather they can when they can but it was good to see so many people out. I think what Bradley Wiggins did at the Tour de France has inspired a lot of people and he has a lot of followers now. The crowd at the finish was incredible. They were packed three or four deep from a kilometre out and it went on past the finish line so that was really impressive to see."


Thomas De Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen)

Sprinter jersey leaderDe Gendt

"It was a very hard day but I did my best and when we had 12 minutes, I hoped we could stay in front but in the end there were too many mountains so we lost a lot of minutes in a short time. We tried to stay as long as we can in the front but it was a very hard day. From the hardest moment to where we were caught was the hardest moment of the day because we had the wind in the face and the mountains were very long. They were not steep but they still hurt."

On the subject of the sprints for the jerseys during the stage  (Sprints and KOM), he says "I said to him before the first sprint, shall we share the mountains and sprints and he said it was okay, and with there being only two guys, you can do that. I will try and go on the attack in the next days so I can defend my jersey but it is going to be hard!"

Martin Mortensen (Vacansoleil PCT)

KOM jersey leader Mortensen

"Today was pretty long. We worked together well and were hoping to stay away but the Garmin guys were travelling fast. I am here to show myself to try and go to the worlds so I have to do something. It was unbelievable how many people there were out there today. In the Tour of Denmark where I am from, it was not the same so it was good. Yes, we lost time when we were stopped at a train crossing but still maybe if we hadn't, Garmin would have started riding earlier.” Finally Martin told the press conference that he will  try and defend his mountains jersey."

Ben Swift: Team Katusha

Ben Swift with his family's two dogs suitably atired for the race.

Talking afterwards on his team Katusha bus, Ben Swift described the sprint as being pretty normal. "It wasn't as bad the bun fights we had in the Tour of Burgos. There were more trains going for it and so it was manic but okay." Ben said that because there were only two riders out front that he and the others in the peloton did expect the break to come back even when it gained 12 minutes.

"We caught them with just over or under 10k to go. I was the designated sprinter so that was good of the team and Napolitano was helping me out in the sprint but he got a little bit boxed when he went left and I went right which worked out well." He added finally that although it got a little tough over the hills in the Wolds, it was nothing major and that it was his first race after a break and because of that, all things considered, it went well.

Graham Briggs “I just wanted to have a go early on and see what happens and then somebody one went over the top of me. It was a good day.” On sprinting for KOM points with Tom Southam, he says “I think that was just fresh legs on the first day! Local roads it was good to show my face.”

“I don’t know what we average for the last hour but it were pretty quick, my legs were hurting. It ended up in the bunch sprint and we helped Russell in the bunch sprint.”

Russell Downing “It was a bit narrow and there were bodies everywhere. I managed to pick Graham up a K out and was yelling in his ear to take me to the front and he did a good job. I think I got dropped in around 6th of 7th, just behind Swifty. I was going to hit out from there and it all went right, and me and Swifty really had to slam on the breaks and I think CJ just got the run on it. I was happy because I got there late and didn’t think I was going to be in at all.”

Ian Wilkinson: Before the race, we caught up with Ian Wilkinson who said of his first Tour of Britain “it’s looking pretty cool, first day and it’s packed out with people and we can’t get the cars parked. Sun is out and that helps the spirits for the stage ahead. The Tour of Ireland was interesting, the style of racing is different and loose. It is more controlled but when it winds up, it does wind up.”

Ian being interviewed on TV on the morning of stage 1.

“I was pretty nervous going into Ireland getting to ride with the likes of Lance and Cav it was a great sporting event. I got a top 10 on a stage and Rus won it overall – what a ride – and it just goes to show that a British rider can rock out there for a domestic team and do it.”

“I found that it is not impossible to ride with these people and we have come here with a good focus and we’re going to get stuck in.” He then explained to prepare for the race that Mark McNally came up to his place for a while and they got stuck into some training for two days.”

“The form going into Ireland wasn’t good but I came out okay and then I had some recovery before a big week before the Warwick crit (which Ian won). I’m feeling good.” Looking ahead to other stages, he says he’s ridden the North West stage three or four times and it comes pretty close to my house so I’m up for a good showing there. The race is definitely going to get harder as it goes south. Pretty grippy.”

Chris Newton, Rapha Condor:
It was quite easy to start with, we (the bunch) let those two riders go and then brought it back together at the finish. We'd like to have got a man in that break but you saw what happened in the end, it got brought back. A good day for us to sit in the wheels, keep a bit of a lid on it, but we need to press on later in the week. It's always a bit strange the first day, you feel a bit jelly legged, this last week I've really backed off, I couldn't really train any more, but now I've come round, I'm feeling good

Tom Southam, Rapha Condor:
It kind of panned out like I thought it would. The break went really quickly, they let it go so easliy and then had the nerve to come round and ask us to start riding. No-one was interested in racing to start with and those two guys went literally with no resistance and then as soon as we started trying to react you've got Pozzato up there complaining at everyone for riding too fast! It was all right in the end, we rode a little bit just to stay out of trouble and give us a place in the front and it wasn't really that difficult.

EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS

British Cycling is the only media with a photographer on a motorbike covering the whole race. Here are the exclusive photos of the first stage. Our thanks to NEG (Wales) pilot Graham Harper for his help in getting these photos.

A huge crowd was on hand at Scunthorpe for the start.

The race rolls out with Garmin at the front of the peloton already

The start proper took a long time to get  too, 15 minutes or more, but the riders enjoyed the time for a chat behind the lead car

And even after they went through kilometre 0, it took them a short while before some one launched the first attack (below).

Dan Craven and a CandiTV rider then had a dig

Graham Briggs was the CandiTV rider getting his face on camera a few times during the day.

Time for a Sunday club run on Saturday

British champion Kristian House catches up with friends

The police and NEG doing a great job. All the yellow flags are marshals making riders aware of a piece of road furniture or parked cars. They did a first class job today as always.

Just one example of the huge crowds along the route today.

Geraint Thomas talking to his Team Sky teammate for 2010, Edvald Boasson Hagen

After Columbia, Garmin take up the chase

Wiggins came to the front to make sure he got his food in the feed zone.

Russell Downing's CandiTV cheer squad perhaps?

L-R: Chris Froome, Tom Southam and Graham Briggs fight for king of the mountain points.

While the two leaders go through a Sprint prime at Wetwang.

Stage Results

1 Sutton,Chris AUS Garmin-Slipstream 4h07'59"
2 Merlo,Michel ITA Barloworld
3 Swift,Ben GBR Team Katusha
4 Downing,Russell GBR Candi-TV-Marshalls Pasta
5 Vanspeybrouck,Pieter BEL Topsport Vlaanderen
6 Honig,Reinier NED Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
7 Reimer,Martin GER Cervelo Test Team
8 Mondory,Lloyd FRA Ag2r La Mondiale
9 Wilkinson,Ian GBR Team Halfords
10 Mertens,Tim BEL Topsport Vlaanderen
11 Elliott,Malcolm GBR Candi-TV-Marshalls Pasta
12 Kristoff,Alexander NOR Joker Bianchi
13 Fernandez,Koldo ESP Euskatel Euskadi
14 Lloyd,Daniel GBR Cervelo Test Team
15 Stannard,Ian GBR ISD-Neri
16 Napolitano,Danilo ITA Team Katusha
17 Brown,Graeme AUS Rabobank
18 Marangoni,Alan ITA CSF Navigare
19 Appollonio,Davide ITA Cervelo Test Team
20 Boasson Hagen,Edvald NOR Team Columbia-HTC
21 Golas,Michael POL Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
22 Berkhout,Thomas NED Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
23 Clarke,Simon AUS ISD-Neri
24 Bichot,Freddy FRA Agritubel
25 Feillu,Brice FRA Agritubel
26 House,Kristian GBR Rapha Condor
27 De Negri,Pierpaolo ITA ISD-Neri
28 Roche,Nicolas IRL Ag2r La Mondiale
29 Pauwels,Serge BEL Cervelo Test Team
30 Kirchen,Kim LUX Team Columbia-HTC
31 Williams,Peter GBR Candi-TV-Marshalls Pasta
32 Dion,Renaud FRA Ag2r La Mondiale
33 Huzarsky,Bartozs POL ISD-Neri
34 Laurent,Christophe FRA Agritubel
35 Niermann,Grischa GER Rabobank
36 Reus,Kai NED Rabobank
37 Velasco,Ivan ESP Euskatel Euskadi
38 Ruygh,Rob NED Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
39 Criel,Tom BEL Topsport Vlaanderen
40 Froome,Christopher GBR Barloworld
41 Van Groen,Arnoud NED Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
42 Tennant,Andrew GBR Team Halfords
43 Southam,Tom GBR Rapha Condor
44 Richardson,Simon GBR Rapha Condor
45 Aramendia,Javier ESP Euskatel Euskadi
46 Lequatre,Geoffroy FRA Agritubel
47 Sconamiglio,Carlo ITA Barloworld
48 Remme,Stian NOR Joker Bianchi
49 Nordhaug,Lars Petter NOR Joker Bianchi
50 Sortveit,Sondre G NOR Joker Bianchi
51 Sonnery,Blaise FRA Ag2r La Mondiale
52 Ten Dam,Laurens NED Rabobank
53 Kangert,Tanel EST Ag2r La Mondiale
54 Thomas,Geraint GBR Barloworld
55 Galdos,Aitor ESP Euskatel Euskadi
56 Karpets,Vladimir RUS Team Katusha
57 Peterson,Tom USA Garmin-Slipstream
58 Vandewalle,Kristof BEL Topsport Vlaanderen
59 Lovkvist,Thomas SWE Team Columbia-HTC
60 Duyn,Huub NED Garmin-Slipstream
61 McNally,Mark GBR Team Halfords
62 Cummings,Steven GBR Barloworld
63 Zen,Enrico ITA CSF Navigare
64 Monfort,Maxime BEL Team Columbia-HTC
65 Ricci Bitti,Davide ITA ISD-Neri
66 Newton,Chris GBR Rapha Condor
67 Canuti,Federico ITA CSF Navigare
68 Pozzato,Filippo ITA Team Katusha
69 Finetto,Mauro ITA CSF Navigare
70 Agirre,Josu ESP Euskatel Euskadi
71 Vanheule,Bart BEL Topsport Vlaanderen
72 Dockx,Gert BEL Team Columbia-HTC
73 Clancy,Edward GBR Team Halfords
74 Fleeman,Dan GBR Cervelo Test Team
75 Pujol Munoz,Oscar ESP Cervelo Test Team
76 Berges,Emilien FRA Agritubel
77 Briggs,Graham GBR Candi-TV-Marshalls Pasta
78 Dessel,Cyril FRA Ag2r La Mondiale
79 Pozzovivo,Domenico ITA CSF Navigare
80 Vogondy,Nicolas FRA Agritubel
81 Holt,Simon GBR Candi-TV-Marshalls Pasta
82 Sampson,James GBR Candi-TV-Marshalls Pasta
83 Stamsnijder,Tom NED Rabobank
84 Soler,Mauricio COL Barloworld
85 Wilmann,Frederik NOR Joker Bianchi
86 Wiggins,Bradley GBR Garmin-Slipstream
87 Mortensen,Martin DEN Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
88 De Lis,Sergio ESP Euskatel Euskadi
89 Petrov,Evgueni RUS Team Katusha
90 Martin,Tony GER Team Columbia-HTC
91 Savini,Filippo ITA CSF Navigare
92 Colo,Alessandro ITA ISD-Neri
93 Craven,Dan NAM Rapha Condor
94 De Gendt,Thomas BEL Topsport Vlaanderen @02'30"
95 Lapthorne,Darren AUS Rapha Condor @14'58"
96 Bibby,Ian GBR Team Halfords @15'01"
97 Lowe,Trent AUS Garmin-Slipstream @15'22"
98 Hayles,Robert GBR Team Halfords @ s/t
99 Vold,Svein Erik NOR Joker Bianchi @ s/t
100 Van Der Velde,Ricardo NED Garmin-Slipstream @ s/t

Sprints

1 De Gendt,T TSV 15
2 Mortensen,M VAC 9
3 Kristoff,A TMB 4
4 Downing,R CTV 2
5 Boasson Hagen,E THR 2
6 Reimer,M CTT 1

King of the Mountains

1 Mortensen,M VAC 16
2 De Gendt,T TSV 13
3 Southam,T RCR 9
4 Lovkvist,T THR 4
5 Briggs,G CTV 3
6 Froome,C BAR 2
7 Wiggins,B GRM 2
8 Pauwels,S CTT 1
9 Bibby,I HAF 1