The spectacle of Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe unchained is worth the viewing, and if the opening stage of the Tour of Britain on Tuesday sets a precedent, this could be quite a week. The Belgian double Olympic champion and the French double world champion combined on the roads of the Scottish borders to set up the win in Kelso for their youthful Soudal-Quickstep teammate Paul Magnier.
The Frenchman Magnier is all of 20, in his first season as a professional, and seemed overwhelmed to have France’s and Belgium’s finest riding their hearts out for him.
Alaphilippe and Evenepoel rode hard to whittle the peloton down on the final climb out of Melrose, Evenepoel kept the pace intense on the descent towards Kelso, but it was Alaphilippe who did the hard, risky work in the final kilometre, rubbing shoulders unnervingly with Jake Stewart of Israel-Premier Tech to keep Magnier in position.
The Frenchman then put in a searing burst into the final acute right-hander over the river Tweed with 400m to go, leaning his bike at a crazy angle, before Magnier put in the coup de grace, surging clear of Stewart’s teammate Ethan Vernon just before the leaders sped on to the bumpy cobbles leading to the finish line. Vernon had no chance of getting on terms while the other favourite for the sprint, Ineos’s Ethan Hayter, had been ridden wide on the last right‑hander and taken completely out of contention.
“‘Loulou’ and Remco tried to go on the climb,” said Magnier, who won his first professional race in January in Majorca. “But they worked for me for the bunch sprint, they did it perfectly. It was important to have a good position before the last corner because of [going on to] the cobbles; I started my sprint early, and kept going.”
Not every team leader would risk their skin for a young teammate as Evenepoel and Alaphilippe did, particularly given that “Loulou” is in his final days with the team before moving on to Switzerland’s Tudor Pro Cycling Team.
It spoke volumes for the collective ethos in the Belgian team, nicknamed the Wolfpack, whose Italian rider Gianni Moscon had controlled the pace for the bulk of the stage behind the early break.
This was a good day for the strong contingent of young British riders in the race, with Vernon second and the national under-23 champion Bob Donaldson – who has just signed a WorldTour contract with Jayco-Alula – in third. On the final King of the Mountains climb, Dingleton and Joe Blackmore looked comfortable following Evenepoel and Alaphilippe, while Trinity Racing’s Callum Thornley – a local lad from Peebles – spent most of the stage hoovering up enough climbing points to wear the King of the Mountains jersey.
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Tom Pidcock got his race off to a flying start with fifth, and while the Border hills showed that Alaphilippe and Evenepoel are also in form.The stage in Cleveland and North Yorkshire on Wednesday is the toughest of the race with three stiff climbs around Whitby before the final two climbs of Saltburn Bank, which is the perfect springboard for a stage- and possibly race‑winning attack from one of the favourites. Magnier felt that it might prove too much for him, in which case he will be working to repay his illustrious teammates.
