Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) will begin his first Tour of Britain on Wednesday with renewed motivation after struggling following the Tour de France and missing the Renewi Tour.
The former Belgian champion is among a rather long list of general classification contenders for the five-stage race that begins in Lincoln and finishes in the Scottish Borders at Earlston. Wellens may not even be the main leader in the UAE pack, however, as they bring their usual incredibly impressive line-up of riders with Benoît Cosnefroy, Felix Großschartner and Florian Vermeersch – all very capable of tackling the GC fight themselves.
“This will be my first time at the Tour of Britain, so I do not quite know what to expect,” Wellens said in UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s squad announcement. “I hear the weather will be unpredictable and the parcours can be spicy, so this suits my characteristics. I think, as a team this suits us as well.”
Wellens has returned for the closing part of the season after a break prompted by his difficult spell following the Tour.
“For me personally, I struggled after the Tour and unfortunately had to miss one of my favourite races, the Renewi Tour,” he said. “But now, I am mentally fresh from the break and it is the beginning of the closing part of the season. I have a lot of motivation to finish the season on the front foot, and I know we can attack this race together as a team.”
The riders will have to be sharp from the off in Lincoln with five ascents of the brutal cobbled climb of Michaelgate opening proceedings. This will stretch the GC immediately with stages two and three being the most obvious sprint stages to Skegness and Beverley whereas stage four provides the biggest GC test of all with multiple famous Yorkshire Dales climbs and a finish in Leyburn set to challenge the riders. The final stage is an interesting one to Earlston; it all depends on how the stage is raced. It has over 2000 metres of climbing but could be a sprint stage if ridden right despite the Lammermuir Hills.
Bonus seconds could remain influential throughout the week after last year’s overall title was settled by only a few seconds.
Askey begins home Tour with GC opportunity
Lewis Askey (NSN Cycling Team) surprisingly is also making his Tour of Britain debut and will share his team’s GC responsibilities with Alessandro Pinarello. Despite being in his fifth professional season, the British rider has never contested a professional race on home roads away from the national championships.
“I really wanted to be here, actually. I’ve never raced a pro race in Britain before, so I’m looking forward to it,” he said in NSN’s squad reveal. “I think the GC will all depend on how the first couple of stages go. I think the first stage will decide quite a lot of the race for me.
“I was feeling really good in my first race back since the Tour de France at Bretagne Classic on Sunday – maybe I didn’t ride the best race I could have ridden, but the legs were there.”
Other big names that are expected to challenge for the green leader’s jersey are Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-INEOS), Ilan Van Wilder and Jasper Stuyven from Soudal-Quickstep, racing as Fix All-Quickstep for this race, as well as a number of others. The other confirmed GC candidates include Fabio Christen, Mark Donovan, Rick Pluimers, Yannis Voisard, Samuel Lopez, Elliott Rowe, Ollie Wood and Tomáš Přidal.
The sprint field is led by Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), whose expected contest is covered in our Tour of Britain sprint preview. Sam Welsford, Sam Bennett, Matteo Moschetti and Matteo Trentin are also due to start.
Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling Team) has been on the podium but without a win seven times on Tour of Britain stages but is still pursuing his first victory in the race.
“Winning a stage of your home race is what every rider wants,” Vernon said. “Getting that first Tour of Britain stage victory is my big target for the week.”
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