Lars Boom out-sprints Mark Cavendish to take third stage victory in Tour of Britain 2011
After the cancellation of the second stage due to high winds the cyclists returned to action for the 87-mile third stage of Tour of Britain 2011 which Rabobank Cycling Team’s Lars Boom won with a tremendous effort on Tuesday, September 13.
He also was able to take the overall leader’s yellow jersey from Mark Cavendish. The race started in Stoke-on-Trent and finished in Trentham Gardens. The 25-year-old professional cyclo-cross cyclists took a total of 3 hours, 23 minutes and 42 seconds to
cover the distance of 150 kilometres.
After winning the stage, Boom said, “With 200 metres to go I managed to jump over Cummings and Thomas and then the corners started so they couldn’t pass us anymore. My first aim was to pull for Michael [Matthews] and then I felt good, so I am happy to win.”
He further added, “It’s nice to win before the World Championships. I am going to try and defend the jersey and win the overall that is the goal now.”
The winds made it hard for the breakaways while after a few kilometres three cyclists including Andrew Fenn (An Post-Sean Kelly), Russell Hampton (Sigma Sport-Specialized) and Boy Van Poppel (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling) got away.
They took maximum advantage of three minutes over the peloton while the race split into four groups. Due to the cancellation of the second stage, the Team Sky wanted to send their cyclist Alex Dowsett to the front and away on a solo move.
However, the peloton came back together and the Rabobank Team was able to hold the situation and kicked off Boom and Matthews in the final kilometres. Boom increased his pace and crossed the finish line ahead of the other riders.
Michael Matthews was in second place and Geraint Thomas of Sky Procycling finished third with the same timing as Boom. Michael Rogers (Sky Procycling) also tried to take part in the leading cyclists but failed and was 7 seconds down to Boom.
Recently, Boom took the prologue stage of Tour of Qatar and Cirterium du Dauphine. He also took the time trial stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.
Boom took the overall lead with a timing of 8 hours, 4 minutes and 35 seconds while Cavendish was in second place with 3 seconds behind Boom. Geraint Thomas finished third with the difference of 6 seconds ahead of Matthews.
Pieter Ghyllebert (An Post-Sean Kelly) took the overall sprint standing with 17 points ahead of Hampton. Matthews took the title of Best Rider ahead of Andrew Fenn.
The next stage will cover the distance of 182 kilometres and it will start in Welshpool and finish in Caerphilly.
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