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Jon Tiernan-Locke wins Tour of Britain

Author: Extra UK | Mon, 17 Sep 2012

Photo courtesy Tour of Britain | www.tourofbritain.com

Fi'zi:k sponsored Endura Racing's Jon Tiernan-Locke sealed victory in the 2012 Tour of Britain, becoming the first Britishwinner in the modern history of the race. The win is Endura Racing's 43rd of the 2012 season which Tiernan-Locke kicked off back in February with a stylish win in the Tour Méditerranéen.

The Tour of Britain's final stage from Reigate to Guildford was a lively one. Bobridge (Orica GreenEDGE), Kreder (Vacansoleil), Richardson (IG Sigma Sport) and Williams (Node4-Giordana) broke clear early on and they stayed away until the final classified climb at Barhatch Lane. At the foot of the climb, with just under 50km to go, Team NetApp applied significant pressure and briefly fractured the peloton. Tiernan-Locke remained calm and controlled, waiting for his team-mates and the re-grouping that came over the following kilometres.

Bobridge made a long break for theline, but Endura Racing and Sky ProCycling worked to bring that move and another couple of late attacks back for the bunch sprint. Mark Cavendish (Sky ProCycling) marked his last race in the World Champion's jersey with a stage win and Russ Downing finished a close fourth in front of a huge crowd in Guildford. Jon came home safely towards the front of the bunch to secure IG Markets gold jersey.

1st Jon Tiernan-Locke
13th Paul Voß
33rd Russ Downing
52nd Jonny McEvoy
62nd Ian Bibby
DNF Zak Dempster

Jon Tiernan-Locke:
"We had a relatively comfortable day of it up until the last KoM when NetApp pulled a full on lead-out into the climb and tried to split the bunch to pieces. I knew that Sky would want to bring things back for Cav, so there was no point in really going for it then as they'd be riding so quickly that nothing could stay away. Paul [Voß] looked like he wanted to go for it, but we decided just to wait for it to re-group.

"It's been a great week and thanks to the whole team for making it happen. It's not really sunk yet to be honest - guessing that will come over the next few days."

Alex Sans Vega (Sports Director):
"We had a comfortable stage today, the team were riding strongly and Sky were keen to work on the front to line up a bunch sprint for Cavendish. The only difficulty came on the climb of Barhatch Lane with around 50km to go as there was a sudden flurry of attacks and we had tired legs after all of the work on the last fewdays. Over the top we got organised and with Sky we started to close down the gaps. Into the final kilometres and we had our fingers crossed that there wasn't any crashes or punctures.

"This is a big win for Jon and the team. We worked hard every day and built up stage by stage, making sure there were no time losses on the early stages. The margin of just 18 seconds shows how hard the race was and all thanks go to the team for the work they put in to make the victory possible."

For more info on Fi'zi:k click here