Tour of Britain: Steve Cummings retains lead on stages 7a and 7b
By Matt Westby
Last Updated: 10/09/16 7:49pm
Steve Cummings is on course to win the Tour of Britain after defending his overall lead on stages 7a and 7b in Bristol.
The 35-year-old Briton started the day 49 seconds ahead of Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) and 51 seconds in front of Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) and surrendered just 11 and 13 seconds to the pair respectively on stage 7a's individual time trial.
He then lost another 12 seconds to Dennis on stage 7b after the Australian escaped to a six-second solo victory over the peloton and collected six bonus seconds.
However, Cummings still leads the general classification by 26 seconds from second-placed Dennis and 38 seconds from third-placed Dumoulin with just Sunday's circuit race in central London remaining.
Stage 7a's time trial was won by Tony Martin (Etixx - Quick-Step), whose time of 18min 6sec was enough to beat Dennis into second place by three seconds, Dumoulin into third by five seconds and Cummings into fourth by 16 seconds.
Sir Bradley Wiggins finished 2min 25sec down in 79th.
Find out more about stage eight in our race guide and follow the action with our live blog from 2.30pm.
Stage 7a result
1 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step, 18min 6sec
2 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, +3sec
3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +5
4 Steve Cummings (GB) Dimension Data, +16
5 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal, +25
6 Gorka Izagirre (Esp) Movistar, same time
7 Alex Dowsett (GB) Movistar, +35
8 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky, +36
9 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac, +39
10 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac, +40
Stage 7b result
1 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, 1:58:42
2 Ariel Richeze (Arg) Etixx - Quick-Step, +6sec
3 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, same time
4 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky, st
5 Carlos Barbero (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, st
6 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert, st
7 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Orica-BikeExchange, st
8 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal, st
9 Marco Marcato (Ita) Wanty-Groupe Gobert, st
10 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac, st
Selected other
15 Steve Cummings (GB) Dimension Data, st
General classification
1 Steve Cummings (GB) Dimension Data, 29:21:21
2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +26sec
3 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, +38
4 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal, +1:02
5 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac, +1:21
6 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky, +1:26
7 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) An Post-Chain Reaction, +1:48
8 Ben Swift (GB) Team Sky, +1:52
9 Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step, +2:12
10 Jacopo Mosca (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, +2:32
