The opening stage of the Tour of Britain saw the peloton take on a rolling route around the Scottish Borders, starting and finishing in Oscar Onley’s hometown of Kelso. It was a fast start to proceedings but eventually the elastic snapped and a three rider break went clear, with all Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders in the peloton.
As the kilometres ticked by the gap for those ahead reduced and coming onto the final classified climb of the day the last remaining breakaway rider was in sight. A flurry of attacks followed in the peloton, which Onley followed ably, but no move was able to get away. Nonetheless the fierce pace saw the bunch explode and only a group of 30 or so made it over the top of the ascent, with Sean Flynn and Bjoern Koerdt following moves alongside Onley. A strong ride from Oliver Peace and Emils Liepins in a chasing group saw sprint finisher Casper van Uden return as the race charged towards the cobbled streets of Kelso. It was a hectic and technical run-in and despite the team’s best efforts, they couldn’t move up fully so Van Uden could have a clear shot at the line, ultimately sprinting to a solid fifth place.
Onley said: “Today was a really nice day for me racing on home roads, it was special. The race opened up quite early where the boys did a really good job covering moves. Oli and Emils then put in a big effort to bring Casper back to the front after the final climb. We unfortunately couldn’t get Casper in the best position but he fought really well to pick up fifth place.”
