Tour of Britain 2023 | Stage one highlights | Altrincham > Manchester - video Dailymotion

The Tour of Britain

Highlights from stage one of the Tour of Britain 2023, held between Altrincham and Manchester on Sunday 3 September.

Transcript

00:00 Stage one of the 2023 Tour of Britain in bright sunshine, getting underway from Altrincham

00:08 to the south of Manchester and a finish in the heart of Manchester in Deansgate. A peloton

00:13 of 96 riders featuring a range of different teams, domestic and world tour. And the headline

00:20 acts of Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock, the big favourites for the general classification.

00:25 But before that, the possibility that there would be six consecutive bunch sprints, although

00:30 the 163.6 kilometres of stage one would potentially prove to be a different script. Considerable

00:38 amount of climbing as the race wended its way out of Altrincham and up into the Pennines,

00:43 skirting Manchester, eventually to the east side, heading towards the north of Manchester.

00:49 And then two categorised climbs, a numberless uncategorised climbs awaited the peloton as

00:54 the flag dropped on the outskirts of Altrincham and the initial attacks started to get underway.

00:59 The attacks would continue from the likes of TDT Unibet and St. Pirren, as well as Bolton

01:05 Equities Blacksmoke for around about four or five kilometres until eventually a group

01:09 of five riders established the first and only breakaway of the day, featuring Uno X's Frederick

01:17 Deversness, two riders from St. Pirren, Zeb Kiffin and Jack Rootkin-Gray. TDT Unibet's

01:25 Harry Tanfield is very familiar with the Tour of Britain and the former winner of the opening

01:29 stage of the Tour de Yorkshire going back a few years. And they were joined by the initial

01:34 attacker, or they joined the initial attacker, James Fouché in the purple of Bolton Equities

01:39 Blacksmoke. And it was Fouché who thought he'd won the only intermediate sprint of the

01:42 day, only to find out that Harry Tanfield had ghosted up to his left and crossed the

01:47 line in front of him. So Tanfield taking the intermediate sprint at Hazel Grove, at which

01:53 there were 10 points available, but no bonus seconds. And then on to the first categorised

01:58 climb of the day, the Cat 2 Grains Bar, a 2.7 kilometre climb. Fouché reacting to the

02:04 original acceleration of Zeb Kiffin, who went very early. Fouché onto the wheel of the

02:09 St Piran man, biding his time and waiting for the moment. The New Zealander from Bolton

02:14 Equities Blacksmoke, when he could come blasting past the rider from St Piran, who couldn't

02:20 find an initial response and found that the New Zealander on the first of two categorised

02:24 climbs, the Cat 2 Grains Bar, just too strong for him. Two categorised climbs on the day,

02:29 but the first of them and the six points for the win going emphatically to the New Zealander,

02:34 James Fouché. And the King of the Mountains competition was the big reward for these riders

02:40 in this five-man breakaway, who wouldn't be expected to make it all the way to the finish

02:44 line. But the King of the Mountains jersey very much up for grabs. Second place then

02:49 for Zeb Kiffin, who was still in the mix in that competition. And 100 or so kilometres

02:54 remained on the stage thereafter, but Fouché taking the first climb. Then the short but

03:00 very sharp climb of Ramspotten Rake, otherwise known as The Rake, just to the north of Manchester,

03:05 also went the way of James Fouché. Taking 10 points here and an unassailable lead in

03:10 the King of the Mountains competition and celebrating in front of large crowds at the

03:14 top of the Cat 1 climb, with Zeb Kiffin following. The five then got back together again, just

03:21 Harry Tanfield holding it up in dramatic fashion as they headed eventually out of the Pennines

03:26 and dropped down towards Manchester. And one by one, those riders started to fall away

03:31 from the initial five-man breakaway until there were just three and then two riders.

03:37 And those included Zeb Kiffin, who was in the company of Frederik Dversnes. But eventually

03:43 they too were caught in the bunch sprint that we had all expected, that had been controlled

03:47 for the most part by the Ineos Grenadiers. And Jumbo Visma significantly started to line

03:51 itself up as they approached Deansgate at something approaching warp speed. Wout van

03:55 Aert with the race favourite, Olaf Koi, on his wheel and Jumbo Visma with strength and

04:00 depth at the front. But Sam Bennett's Boro Hansgrohe also getting in the mix. Ryan Mullen

04:04 stretching things out, the Irish time trialist, looking around to see where Sam Bennett, his

04:09 protected sprinter, was. Bennett in a perfect place on the wheel of Olaf Koi, the pre-race

04:15 favourite as Nathan van Hooydhoek took it up inside the final kilometre, waiting to

04:19 unleash the potential of the best lead-out man you could argue in the world, Wout van

04:25 Aert. Van Aert with Olaf Koi on his wheel, then Sam Bennett. The cream rising to the

04:31 top inside the final few hundred metres. And at this point Wout van Aert started to engage

04:37 the full lead-out effort. Koi right on his wheel, released by van Aert. Van Aert then

04:43 slotting back in in front of Bennett. Koi with the win, van Aert in second place and

04:49 Sam Bennett taking third with Max Kanter finishing fast from Movistar to take fourth place. A

04:54 perfect team performance from Jumbo Visma who had controlled the race along with the

04:58 Ineos Grenadiers all day and delivered in the final kilometre a lead-out of perfection

05:03 with Wout van Aert who has GC aspirations, making sure that he finished in second place

05:08 which could be significant as the race goes on. So the general classification mirroring

05:15 the stage results, Koi now leads the Tour of Britain with Wout van Aert in second place

05:19 and Bennett in third. Ethan Vernon the best British rider in fifth place and last year's

05:23 winner Gonzalo Serrano is in ninth just ahead of Rory Townsend.

05:27 [BIRDS CHIRPING]

05:29 [WATER SPLASHING]

05:31 [WATER SPLASHING]

05:33 [WATER SPLASHING]

05:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Tour of Britain 2023 | Stage one highlights | Altrincham > Manchester

Category

Transcript

Recommended