Tour of Britain: Zardini doesn't stumble on the Tumble

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Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani-CSF) claimed victory atop the Tumble to move into the overall lead at the Tour of Britain after a demanding day of racing in Wales. The Italian came out on top in a dogged tussle with Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) on the five-kilometre climb to the finish.

Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) passed Roche in the final metres to take second on the stage, 9 seconds down, while Bradley Wiggins (Sky) did enough to keep his general classification hopes alive by finishing 5th at 14 seconds in spite of struggling to match the pace earlier on the climb.

“It’s fantastic day for me and the team. I have to say thanks to the team,” Zardini said. “This Tour of Britain has started in the best way possible and we’ll try to keep this leadership until the final stage of the race. It’s the most important victory of my career.”

Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo) was the final survivor of the stage’s early break and claimed the prize for most aggressive rider in the process, but throughout there was a sense that for all the rugged terrain through the day, the honours would be decided on the stiff final climb to the finish.

Boaro was duly swept up on the final approach to the climb, and once the road began to ratchet upwards, it was his Tinkoff-Saxo team that came to the front in support of Roche. The first attack, however, came from Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp) with four kilometres remaining, and shortly afterwards, Zardini danced across to join him.

By that point, overnight leader Mark Renshaw (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) had already been dropped and the peloton continued to be whittled down as the gradient stiffened thereafter.

Up front, Bauer was struggling to match Zardini’s pace-making and on the steepest part of the climb, with a little under three kilometres remaining, the Italian decided to forge clear alone.

Sky’s David Lopez, meanwhile, was attempting to bring order to the group of favourites and maintain a steady pace for Bradley Wiggins, but the Spaniard’s efforts could not stop the group fragmenting inside the final two kilometres.

Sensing his opportunity, Nicolas Roche jumped clear on an exposed section of the climb. Grinding a monstrous gear, he managed to claw his way up to Zardini and then inch past him, and it briefly seemed as though the Irishman was going to claim stage honours.

Zardini refused to yield, however, and after hauling himself back up to Roche’s wheel, he jumped again within sight of the red kite, and this proved to be the winning move. In the closing metres, Kwiatkowski accelerated out of the chase group, and while he was too late to catch Zardini, he did manage to nip past Roche to take second on the stage.

Wiggins, meanwhile, had appeared to be floundering at the rear of the chase group with a little under two kilometres remaining, but he recovered well as the road flattened out towards the summit to finish 5th on the stage. Aided by Lopez, he came home with Dylan Teuns (BMC) and Giovanni Visconti (Movistar), 14 seconds down, but two seconds ahead of Leopold König (NetApp-Endura).

In the general classification, Zardini holds a 13-second lead over Kwiatkowski, while Roche lies third at 17 seconds. Wiggins is currently in 5th overall, 24 seconds back, a deficit that keeps him in touch with a short individual time trial still to come.

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