Luke Rowe wins the opening stage of the Tour of Britain 2012
It was a long wait for Luke Rowe of Team Sky Procycling before he could register the first major win of his 2012 season.
Opening stage of the Tour of Britain was just the perfect venue for the 22-year-old as he sailed passed the finish-line ahead of his competitors and restricted the race favourites.
He took a total time of 4 hours, 51 minutes and 5 seconds and occupied the top podium position with Boy Van Poppel, Russell Downing, Jeremie Galland and Peter Hawkins occupying the next four spots.
"It was pretty incredible to win today. It was quite unexpected, but this is the biggest win to date so I'm very happy,” Rowe said
“Coming towards the end of the race we had Brad on the front and I was behind him and Cav was sitting third because we were lining the stage up for him but I looked round when he went down and shouted to Brad 'It's for me' so we went full gas".
“The mountain is about a mile from my house so friends and family are coming to watch,” Luke concluded.
He noted that the weather was extremely hot and the victory was not easy, considering the fact that some of the top cyclists from all across the world were riding the Tour of Britain.
Luke noted that his experience of racing in different parts of the world helped him understand and cope well with different racing conditions.
Kristian House of Team Rapha Condor won the first, second and the third mountain of the race, while Rony Martias of Team Saur-Sojasun, Jonny Clarke of Team UnitedHealthcare succeeded during the first and the second sprints of the race.
Niels Wytinck of Team An Post-Sean Kelly was awarded the Rouleur Combativity award after his marvellous performance at the stage.
Rowe is now leading the stage 1 classifications with an impressive lead of 3 seconds over Rony Martias of Team Saur-Sojasun.
He is now targeting the stage 6 of the race which is very close to his house, almost one mile away from his residence and his friends and family will be watching him race.
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