There was really all to play for for the Atherton siblings as they had the opportunity to pull off a double win. In the women's race Rachel qualified first and looked as strong as ever in the face of some strong competition, with a good time set by Manon Carpenter, which was only beaten by Emmeline Ragot. Atherton came down last and only really had to finish in the top six to take the title. She rode fast and hard but could only get second on the day, more than enough to add the World Cup series win to her National and World champion titles this year.
The men's race started with a number of riders out with injuries, including Greg Minaar, Sam Hill, Aaron Gwin, Brook MacDonald and Danny Hart, but it was all about Steve Smith and Gee Atherton to take the title. There were early good times from Josh Bryceland to take the hotseat, and good runs from Peaty, showing some old school form, while noone really challenged until the last few riders.
Gee had qualified fourth, and put in a solid and good run going first, but he was beaten in the next two runs by Loic Bruni and Mick Hannah, who had been both knocking all the door all season and finally put together something good. It could still have been Gee's title if Steve Smith, coming through last, had a shocking run. Steve is a rider on form and he wasn't going to let this get away, and his run was fastest at each split. Super fast down the mountain he took the win by over a second, pushing Gee off the podium and taking the series title.
It's safe to say Gee was gutted.
What can I say... I'm sorry.
— gee atherton (@gee_atherton) September 22, 2013
Smith's riding spoke for itself and while Gee's season had started with him looking unbeatable, it was Steve's that was consistently stunning at the end.
Otherwise, the weekend wrapped up the Tour of Britain with some fabulous racing. Stage six, on Friday, was a first summit finish for the modern race and it all came together for the final climb of Haytor. As ever there were early attacks on the slopes from Quintana and Martin, but they seemed not to have learnt the course entirely and they were reeled in by a strong Sky presence let by the Gold jersey of Wiggins. At the end a mature and powerful finish from Simon Yates on the GB Cycling team gave him his biggest win so far in what is sure to now be a great career. Yates has signed for a World Tour team in the shape of Orica so expect more from him next season. Wiggins' ride was dominating and put him firmly in control with a 26 second lead to defend into the final two flat stages.
After a four hour transfer the race rolled out of Epsom, heading for Guildford on Saturday. A sprinter's stage with a bit of a kick at the end it was one that Cavendish was clearly eyeing, after winning there last year. The traditional break was dragged in and then the attacks launched. Cavendish went early and looked to have done too much as Viviani came back at him. It seemed that Cav was really keen for this one and found the energy to kick again and take the win in front of the Italian. Two wins for the British champion and another chance on the streets of London, while Wiggins held his lead, finishing in the pack.
Sunday was the final, with a traditional circuit race around central London, up and down the Embankment and looping through the sites of Whitehall.
Before the race there was plenty of interest around all of the team busses, with the contrast between the big set-ups and the smaller teams shown as the purpose built busses sat next to the minibusses and vans from the continental-level guys. The stars of the race rolled through the crowds towards the circuit, but the biggest crowds were around the Sky and OPQS team bases.
The race got underway and soon there was the thrill of the race tearing past the barriers, spotting the big names and and whipping up a wind in the spectators faces.
A break headed out and seemed by my calculations to have hit a lead of over 40 seconds, principally made up of the riders on the hunt for the sprint jersey, and fighting for the points on the intermediate sprints.
Once that was done, and with Alex Dowsett in the group riding for Madrazo, he took the opportunity to break out and use his time trail skills to take a punt at the win. He got clean air for a period, with a gap of over 10 seconds, but the peloton was in full chat at this point with Sky, Cannondale and OPQS driving it on. Wiggins was consistently protected by his team and as the catch came in the last lap it was lined up for a sprint finish. The lead out trains were fully organised as the race hit the last kilometre and Cavendish was sat in an almost perfect position.
Cav was lead out perfectly by Petacchi and powered past Viviani and Bennett to win, making a perfect double as Wiggins crossed the line to confirm his race win and take his final Gold Jersey on the podium.
A brilliant end to a superb Tour that looks to be going from strength to strength with bigger and bigger names to add to the winner's list.
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