# Tour of Britain 2018 (*Spoilers*)



## brommers (29 Aug 2018)

Looks like Sky are taking this seriously with their line up.

https://www.teamsky.com/article/team-sky-announce-full-tour-of-britain-lineup


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## Venod (29 Aug 2018)

This could prove interesting.

_"a team time trial that finishes atop Whinlatter Pass"
_
But is it a team time trial or an individual ?

The bit in italics is from this page.

https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/2018/06/05/2018-ovo-energy-tour-of-britain-route-revealed/

Stage 5 is just 14km long, but it's uphill and an individual time trial. Starting in Cockermouth the parcours runs up Whinlatter Pass for a summit finish.

The above from this page

http://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/913/t...ute-riders-live-tv-guide-all-you-need-to-know

although its probably a typo as they do list it as a TTT


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## ColinJ (29 Aug 2018)

brommers said:


> Looks like Sky are taking this seriously with their line up.
> 
> https://www.teamsky.com/article/team-sky-announce-full-tour-of-britain-lineup


Indeed! 

So ... _which _Sky rider will win it?


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## brommers (29 Aug 2018)

ColinJ said:


> Indeed!
> 
> So ... _which _Sky rider will win it?


No idea


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## mjr (29 Aug 2018)

brommers said:


> Looks like Sky are taking this seriously with their line up.
> 
> https://www.teamsky.com/article/team-sky-announce-full-tour-of-britain-lineup


Aren't GT and Froome likely to be crowd-pleasers but cooked after their other races earlier this season? I remember Wiggins riding it after winning the Tour in 2012. Crashed stage 1 where I was, DNS stage 6 with a stomach bug.


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## brommers (31 Aug 2018)

Quick-Step have a really strong team: Alaphilippe, Gaviria, Jungels, Schachmann, Richeze, Keisse


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## smutchin (31 Aug 2018)

Alaphilippe to win it for me. Agree with @mjr about Thomas and Froome being there for show (good PR in these turbulent times for Sky), but you never know... maybe they’re actually up for it?


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## mjr (31 Aug 2018)

Has anyone seen the ITV presentation/commentating team for this? The EPG is silent about this, the tour team is mostly on the Vuelta and Matt Rendell rarely works alone, so I think the best it could be is Jill Douglas as Gary and Ant McCrossan as Ned. I hope Brian Smith is on Eurosport at the moment!


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## Mike_P (31 Aug 2018)

Doubt ITV could afford Brian Smiths hair gel.


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## Pro Tour Punditry (1 Sep 2018)

I like the ToB, but I fear it's going down the wrong road (no pun intended)


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## Adam4868 (1 Sep 2018)

Anyone going on Thursday to hartside pass ? I'm looking at trying to get there and wondering about parking car somewhere.


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## ColinJ (1 Sep 2018)

Adam4868 said:


> Anyone going on Thursday to hartside pass ? I'm looking at trying to get there and wondering about parking car somewhere.


Years ago, a friend drove me to try and catch the pros ride up Holme Moss. We had to park about 3 miles from the climb because the surrounding roads were closed by police controlling the crowds. We didn't manage to get to the climb itself. The crowds were so big that we could see them all the way up the hill from Holme village below.

I'd suggest that you will probably have to park miles away and walk to your vantage point so set off early. (Or take your bike and cycle from where you park.)


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## Phaeton (1 Sep 2018)

Pro Tour Punditry said:


> I like the ToB, but I fear it's going down the wrong road (no pun intended)


Why? I have no knowledge of what it was before so saying they are changing it is interesting well to me at least


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## Pro Tour Punditry (1 Sep 2018)

Phaeton said:


> Why? I have no knowledge of what it was before so saying they are changing it is interesting well to me at least


I was pished last night when I posted and have no recollection of what my rambling was about


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## Phaeton (1 Sep 2018)

Pro Tour Punditry said:


> I was pished last night when I posted and have no recollection of what my rambling was about


ROFL no worries, maybe because
A) It's not coming past your house
B) It's coming past your house


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## ColinJ (1 Sep 2018)

Pro Tour Punditry said:


> I was pished last night when I posted and have no recollection of what my rambling was about


You were saying that the ToB should be reorganised as a single day, 2-stage event based at Regent's Park. A 1-lap prologue in the morning, and a 50-lap sprint stage in the afternoon.

None of us agreed with you!


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## Pro Tour Punditry (1 Sep 2018)

Phaeton said:


> ROFL no worries, maybe because
> A) It's not coming past your house
> B) It's coming past your house


Not this year. It was last year.


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## Adam4868 (1 Sep 2018)

Pro Tour Punditry said:


> Not this year. It was last year.


Never again,once was enough !


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## Adam4868 (1 Sep 2018)

ColinJ said:


> Years ago, a friend drove me to try and catch the pros ride up Holme Moss. We had to park about 3 miles from the climb because the surrounding roads were closed by police controlling the crowds. We didn't manage to get to the climb itself. The crowds were so big that we could see them all the way up the hill from Holme village below.
> 
> I'd suggest that you will probably have to park miles away and walk to your vantage point so set off early. (Or take your bike and cycle from where you park.)


Figured on this,went to lakes a couple of years ago and had a long walk with two moody teens ! They only came cause i got them a day off school.This time its with my partner,so no bikes only cake.She will have to walk.....


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## Pro Tour Punditry (1 Sep 2018)

Adam4868 said:


> Never again,once was enough !


I've been lucky, it's been around these parts quite a lot


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## Phaeton (1 Sep 2018)

Just looked at the route, it's coming through Retford & almost Worksop next Saturday so may have to ride over to have a looksie


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## roadrash (2 Sep 2018)

mjr said:


> Aren't GT and Froome likely to be crowd-pleasers but cooked after their other races earlier this season? I remember Wiggins riding it after winning the Tour in 2012. Crashed stage 1 where I was, DNS stage 6 with a stomach bug.



View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1036191229946593286


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## roadrash (2 Sep 2018)

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1036193123851034624


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## theclaud (2 Sep 2018)

Settled by the mahoosive telly in Pembrey Country Park with a hog roast roll for brekkie as they head off into the hills. Any other CCers down here?


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## roadrash (2 Sep 2018)

tell that chap in the green jacket to shift out the way of the telly


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## Phaeton (2 Sep 2018)

There's always one isn't there, quite often with a kid on their shoulders lol


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## Houthakker (2 Sep 2018)

Hoping to get up and see them on Friday. 
Are there any live updates being given on radio that anyone knows of?


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## roadrash (2 Sep 2018)

I am thinking of going to the finish on friday


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## Phaeton (2 Sep 2018)

There's http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/2018/08/31/tour-tracker-comes-to-the-ovo-energy-tour-of-britain/ this app which says it has live GPS tracking


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## Houthakker (2 Sep 2018)

Thanks Phaeton, yet another reason for me to curse work for giving me a windows phone!
Think I'll need to join twitter so I can seewhats happening


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## Phaeton (2 Sep 2018)

Houthakker said:


> Think I'll need to join twitter so I can seewhats happening


Don't do it think of the children, it's worse that FB for morons


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## mjr (2 Sep 2018)

Read-only but http://thesocialpeloton.com but it'll spoil all other races on now.


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## gasinayr (3 Sep 2018)

Should be renamed Tour Of England


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## Phaeton (3 Sep 2018)

gasinayr said:


> Should be renamed Tour Of England


Why It started in Wales, it's going to Scotland, granted NI misses out, but when they get unified they won't be part of the uK anyway


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## youngoldbloke (3 Sep 2018)

I err can't err watch it err for more err than err a err couple of err minutes. The commentary is absolute dire. Rob Hayles is just about OK but the other bloke ........ 
I suppose I could turn the sound off.


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## gasinayr (3 Sep 2018)

Phaeton said:


> Why It started in Wales, it's going to Scotland, granted NI misses out, but when they get unified they won't be part of the uK anyway


When is it going to Scotland ?


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## brommers (3 Sep 2018)

gasinayr said:


> When is it going to Scotland ?


Well, last year it started in Edinburgh. It's only an 8 day race, not a 21 stage race like the Tour de France.


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## mjr (4 Sep 2018)

8 days, 100 miles a day... JOGLE is not much over 900, is it? It could cover much more of Britain without transfers if they didn't spend so long going round in circles, but it would need more councils and police involved, so there's pressure against it.

Really, if you want it sooner, ask your politicians responsible for tourism to bid www.writeToThem.com

It's been a pretty good race so far, with a bit of everything in just two stages. Even with only 1km to go, it looked like yesterday's break shouldn't survive but there were no longer enough domestiques in the peloton to bring it back for their teammates and the chase had been hard enough I guess no alliances had been discussed.


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## nickyboy (4 Sep 2018)

mjr said:


> 8 days, 100 miles a day... JOGLE is not much over 900, is it? It could cover much more of Britain without transfers if they didn't spend so long going round in circles, but it would need more councils and police involved, so there's pressure against it.
> 
> Really, if you want it sooner, ask your politicians responsible for tourism to bid www.writeToThem.com
> 
> It's been a pretty good race so far, with a bit of everything in just two stages. Even with only 1km to go, it looked like yesterday's break shouldn't survive but there were no longer enough domestiques in the peloton to bring it back for their teammates and the chase had been hard enough I guess no alliances had been discussed.



The race (like all bike tour races) has a route partially determined by which towns are willing to pay for starting rights, finishing rights.

If Scottish town councils, for example, put up the money, the race would be there in a flash


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## Phaeton (4 Sep 2018)

gasinayr said:


> When is it going to Scotland ?


When I made the comment I actually thought there was 2 days, but looking again at the route it's only up as far as Cockermouth


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## Adam4868 (6 Sep 2018)

Good day up at Whinlatter,lovely part of the country.We parked in Buttermere and walked up.Great spot and just seen myself on TV...I think the camera got my bad side and aged me !


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## mjr (6 Sep 2018)

TTT sets the green jersey. Is it all over bar some shouting or can the Quicksteppers find 6 or 16 seconds?

Nightmare for EF getting both sprinters time cut!


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## Phaeton (7 Sep 2018)

Are Sky taking this event seriously or is it just a publicity outing, I was very surprised to see Froome swing off at the 7-8K point, he hadn't seemed to do that much on the front.


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## Adam4868 (7 Sep 2018)

Its more a PR for sky I think.Pouls would be the chosen one for the win but Froome and Thomas are far from race fit.


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## mjr (7 Sep 2018)

Dogtrousers said:


> How often has Froome raced in Britain? TdF when it started in Yorkshire. 2012 Olympics. I think he rode in the national championships in about 2010 or something when he was first recruited by British Cycling. Any others?


Tour of Britain 2009 for Barloworld-Bianchi. 50th on GC.


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## Adam4868 (7 Sep 2018)

Does it matter ?


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## Pro Tour Punditry (7 Sep 2018)

I am watching the highlights programme from yesterday's TTT; my main observation is that the person doing the fingers countdown was not very good at it. More like Ted Rogers on 3-2-1 than a smooth countdown


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## rich p (7 Sep 2018)

Pro Tour Punditry said:


> I am watching the highlights programme from yesterday's TTT; my main observation is that the person doing the fingers countdown was not very good at it. More like Ted Rogers on 3-2-1 than a smooth countdown
> 
> View attachment 428876


Dusty bin Barle?


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## Pro Tour Punditry (7 Sep 2018)

I have the ToB on in the background, I'm not paying too much attention to it, and was wondering if those who are could answer a question:

Are they doing loops of the same circuit or are all climbs in the area an average of 6% gradient?


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## Phaeton (7 Sep 2018)

No loop that I can see https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/stage-six/


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## Pro Tour Punditry (7 Sep 2018)

Thanks (I should have thought of just looking at the stage route!), looks like they do the current climb twice but the rest was just a coincidence that the average was 6% I suppose


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## mcshroom (7 Sep 2018)

Some pictures from Fangs Brow today. Lots of cyclists out on thee hill. I'd imagine even more were on the double climb of Whinlatter.


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## MrGrumpy (7 Sep 2018)

Our local lad Joe Nally is riding for the BC team, seems to be enjoying it from his facebook posts. Cracking talent from an early age, considering swimming was his forte up until I think high school !


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## Adam4868 (7 Sep 2018)

It was a hard enough slog up Whinlatter once yesterday,that was walking after Two pints pre lunch ! 
I don't get out much.


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## mjr (7 Sep 2018)

Adam4868 said:


> It was a hard enough slog up Whinlatter once yesterday,that was walking after Two pints pre lunch !
> I don't get out much.


Did your jersey turn green?


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## Crackle (7 Sep 2018)

Interesting watching them ride over roads I've ridden. Been over the Whinlatter several times from both sides on road and mtn bike. Not that fast though!


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## Pro Tour Punditry (7 Sep 2018)

Crackle said:


> Interesting watching them ride over roads I've ridden. Been over the Whinlatter several times from both sides on road and mtn bike. Not that fast though!


Just 6% average


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## Crackle (7 Sep 2018)

Pro Tour Punditry said:


> Just 6% average


It's not the most challenging Lakeland pass that's for sure. I mean, I've done it, that tells you everything...


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## Mike_P (8 Sep 2018)

What a crazy roll out today, virtually a figure of 8 bar the width of one end of Trent Bridge Cricket Ground to start off with.


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## MrGrumpy (8 Sep 2018)

FB fpost rom Joe on today’s stage

Stage 7 is over.

Up there with the hardest days I've had out on the bike. I've edited this a few times to remove the swear words..
The Tour of Britain keeps showing that no matter how hard yesterday was, today will always be harder. We'd all expected an early break to go and that the race would be controlled for the next 200km, however that was certainly not the case. Spent the first 40km or so with lactic acid up to my eyeballs wondering why I'm not on holiday yet and when it finally did 'ease up', seeing 170km to go was a truly disgusting sight. Oh and then it started to rain. So we proceeded to smash it out of every single corner and up every hill for the next 15 hours I think it was, and when I was pretty certain I was about to be dropped I was told on the radio I had to get to the front and help the other teams chase the break. And that's when I started a 25km chaingang with a bunch of world tour riders chasing Ian Stannard and suddenly the last 150km of suffering seemed pretty insignificant. If you aren't already stunned by Stannards ride today, take it from me that he is outrageously strong.. But anyway, did what I could and I was glad to end the day on a positive note rather than just swinging all day and doing nothing of any use.

One final day to go. Thank f*ck.


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## 13 rider (8 Sep 2018)

Been out to watch today at the Kom at Keyworth . I had a proper go at the Strava segment happy to 4th fastest when I got home .18.8 mph average 1 min 46 secs . Strangely with the race finished Im down to 47th . Alex Dowsett took the Kom at 28mph 1 min 10 secs  and the peleton didn't look like they were trying . I needed a rest at the top they had over 100 miles still to go my respect for these guys has gone up . Alex Dowsett averaged 26.6 mph for today's 141 miles and he didn't win .


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## Bollo (9 Sep 2018)

I’m at Trafalgar Square waiting for the start. The Lotto Soudal team car nearly lost it on a corner. It was like grand theft auto.


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## vickster (9 Sep 2018)

I’m at the top of the Strand


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## Bollo (9 Sep 2018)

vickster said:


> View attachment 429297
> I’m at the top of the Strand


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## Bollo (9 Sep 2018)

I’ve got the big camera but will have to wait until I’m back to post up some pics. Got a cracker of Greipel chasing down the break with 2 to go.


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## Bollo (9 Sep 2018)

Hold your breath - this is the selection from about 400 images (200 straight in the bin) of the day. I managed to get the moment Kiryienka was finally caught and Greipel's slightly panicy-looking bridge across the the lead breakaway.

Part 1









Greipel's paint job. Really nice!









Someone has never forgotten the Festina Affair!


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## Bollo (9 Sep 2018)

Part 2...


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## deptfordmarmoset (9 Sep 2018)

vickster said:


> View attachment 429297
> I’m at the top of the Strand


I was at the same Waterloo end. You must have been pretty much alongside me.









EDIT: were you there early enough to see the Bardiani (Barmy Army, more like) bus navigating that corner? Madness!


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## Bollo (9 Sep 2018)

deptfordmarmoset said:


> ...
> EDIT: were you there early enough to see the Bardiani (Barmy Army, more like) bus navigating that corner? Madness!


I didn't see the Barmy Army bus (so it's not just me) but I learned never to accept a lift off the Lotto Soudal team car! Let's just pray they're never sponsored by a vehicle manufacturer that produces a rear-wheel drive car.


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