Corbin Strong wins Tour of Britain opener at Glenshee Ski Centre summit

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Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) won the opening stage of the Tour of Britain across the Scottish mountains to the Glenshee Ski Centre, surviving the rain and wind to dominate the uphill sprint.

A break of six courageous riders forced Ineos Grenadiers to lead the chase all day. The British WorldTour team led the surge up the climb in the final two kilometres to catch the break. However, Strong was perfectly positioned on Omar Fraile’s wheel and then the 22-year-old Kiwi rider surged past him to hit the line first.

Fraile hung on for second place, with Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) third. Ineos Grenadiers team leader Tom Pidcock was fifth and Dylan Teuns was sixth.

It was Strong’s first professional victory and gave him the race leader’s red jersey.

“It’s an awesome feeling to win. This season hasn’t gone all to plan. My first season with Israel-Premier Tech has included a lot of ups and downs but the team keeps believing in me and the riders keep believing in me and I’m happy to finally show I can win at this level. I hope it’s not the last," Strong said.

“I was a bit out of position with 300m to go but then I got on the Ineos lead-out train. I looked up and saw 150 metres to go. The adrenaline kicked in and I knew I was in a position to win, so I just gave it my all. I couldn’t believe it when I crossed the line first and that I finally have a result I can be proud of.”

How it unfolded

Rain lashed down at the start in Aberdeen forcing riders to wrap up for the 181km ride into the Scottish hills.

The tough conditions were far from the heat of the European summer but a number of riders were ready to race hard with a fight to go in the break of the day.

Sadly, Marco Haller (Bora-Hansgrohe) would be part of the action. The on-form Austrian, who recently won the Bemer Cyclassics, crashed with a motorbike and was taken to hospital.

Soon after the break of the day formed with Matt Gibson and Stephen Bassett (Human Powered Health), Jacob Scott and Matt Teggart (WiV SunGod) and Martin Urianstad (Uno-X) got away and combined to fight into the rain and wind on the road to Glenshee Ski Centre.

Ineos Grenadiers took up the chase to keep team leader Pidcock in overall contention. The gap grew to 4:40 after 50km but it began to fall after that as the rain and cold forced everyone to suffer.

The gap was down to 2:00 after 90km and the help from Israel-Premier Tech saw it fall further, giving the peloton control of the race.

The attack had a lead of 45 seconds before the climb to the finish but a huge effort by Alex Dowsett (Israel-Premier Tech) cut it in half and the final steep three kilometres did the rest, the attackers caught in the final kilometre.

Soon to retire Richie Porte and Magnus Sheffield did huge turns on the front and then Fraile tried to go early as the climb eased. However, he only served to lead-out Strong, who lived up to his name and took his first professional victory.

Strong will wear the leader’s red jersey during Monday’s 175km second stage from Hawick to Duns south of Edinburgh.

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