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