Alex Dowsett powered to victory on the penultimate stage at the Tour of Britain while Steve Cummings moved up to second.
Boom extends race lead
Alex Dowsett powered to victory in the London time trial on the penultimate stage at the Tour of Britain while Steve Cummings moved up to second place overall.
The Team Sky rider held off the attentions of race leader Lars Boom (Rabobank) by an impressive five seconds over the 8.8-kilometre course in the centre of the British capital to take a memorable win in front of his home fans.
The victory was all the more sweet for the 22-year-old as it came in his first race as British National Time Trial champion, debuting the jersey in fine style with a time of ten minutes and 14 seconds.
The time trial was also a successful one for Steve Cummings (Team Sky) who took fourth fastest time on the stage and with it moved up to second overall, 36 seconds back with one stage remaining.
The Brit set a strong time of 10:23 which stood up well against his closest rivals as they crossed the finish, propelling Cummings from an overnight fifth overall to the second step of the podium.
Boom maintained his consistent performance and strengthened his grip on the IG Markets gold leader’s jersey going into the final stage 8b circuit race around London.
Race of truth
The crowds came out in force to see the riders take to the streets and power along Embankment as a time trial returned to the race for the first time since 2005.
Swede Alexander Wetterhall (Endura) set an early benchmark on the out-and-back course before being displaced by a strong showing from Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil).
The riders headed out thick and fast at one-minute intervals and there was little time for the riders to admire the many landmarks out on course.
Dowsett set a strong time, resplendent in his national colours, which held firm despite Boom coming within a single second at the intermediate split.
Cummings was second fastest at the same split and went on to leapfrog Linus Gerdemann (Leopard Trek), Dan Lloyd (Garmin-Cervelo) and Leopold Konig (NetApp) to cap off a highly successful morning for the team.
Sweet success
After the stage a happy Dowsett admitted that the win was one he will remember for years to come.
He said: "Everything just clicked. I recceed the course twice and even when I got up this morning I knew that my legs weren’t going to feel as bad as they had done the last few days. It’s been a hard tour for all of us, always trying to put Lars Boom on the back foot so we’ve been attacking all the time and it takes it out of you. Yesterday was a slightly easier stage, being flat and quite controlled gave my legs a chance to come round. Once I got going I knew my legs were good and I could do a good ride.
"It’s amazing; it’s one of those things I would hopefully tell my children in years to come. It’s going to take a while to sink in. London has been pretty kind to me, it’s amazing.
"This means a lot to the team. Especially to be in London and pull off a stage win. We can leave this stage with our heads held high because we’ve thrown everything at Lars Boom. We’ve got a strong team here but hats off to the guy. He’s even taken us on himself at time without his team which shows what a rider he is and a true deserved winner of this Tour. We have all done pretty much everything we could to get one over on him."
