Ben Swift got Team Sky off to an encouraging start at Bayern Rundfahrt by sprinting to second place on the opening stage.
Rasmussen sprints to stage victory
Ben Swift got Team Sky off to an encouraging start at Bayern Rundfahrt by sprinting to second place on the opening stage.
The Yorkshireman was thrust into the thick of the action after a fine lead out from his team-mates in Muhldorf, but was denied his first victory of the season after being narrowly outpaced by Garmin-Sharp’s Alex Rasmussen on the uphill drag to the finish.
The result marked a return to form for the 25 year old, who only made his comeback at last week’s Tour of Norway after a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Euskaltel’s Juan José Lobato meanwhile, rounded out the podium.
Fast start
The 34th edition of Germany’s biggest bike race had commenced under leaden skies in Pfaffenhofen and four riders ignited the action almost as soon as the start flag was lowered.
Henning Bommel (Rad-Net Rose), Grischa Janorschke (Nutrixxion Abus), Javier Mejías (Team Novo Nordisk) and Alexander Grad (Team Heizomat) formed an affective unit and saw their lead grow to a mammoth 11 minutes before alarm bells began to ring in the bunch.
It was Team Sky who instigated the chase with around 85km to go, and with FDJ, Orica GreenEdge and Blanco also lending a hand, the time gap began to fall rapidly.
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke and Joe Dombrowski both took long turns on the front, and their calculations proved astute as the breakaway quartet were swept up inside the final 5km.
By that point the peloton was motoring with Ian Stannard at the head of affairs as Team Sky powered around the final lap of the day.
When he peeled off, Peter Kennaugh, Geraint Thomas and Chris Sutton stepped up and unleashed Swift down the closing straight, only to see Rasmussen kick on and claim his first success of 2013.
In the mix
Back on the team bus, Race Coach Kurt-Asle Arvesen was happy with how events had panned out and pleased to see Swift in the thick of the action.
He told us: "We controlled the race from beginning to end today and I'm really happy with how everyone performed. There was never any doubt we would bring the breakaway back and JTL and Joe looked really strong.
"Ian, Pete, G and CJ then produced a great lead out for Swifty and it's just unfortunate he came up a little bit short and Rasmussen jumped out of his wheel to take the win.
"Ben hasn't sprinted in a while though and he will have definitely learned from the experience. It's great to see him back battling it out in the sprints and it all looks good for the future."
Thursday's stage is being billed by some as the Queen stage of the race and Arvesen admitted his riders would be ready for any eventuality.
He added: "We have a versatile group of guys here and a number of options to play. Tomorrow is going to be tough though, especially as snow is forecast over 700m, so we have to remain alert and stay on top of our game.
"We won't be afraid to help control things again, but with Garmin in the jersey and Daniel Martin in their team, we'd expect them to do most of the work. It should be an interesting stage and we'll be good to go again in the morning."
