OPQS rider Michal Kwiatkowski finished 2nd in the overall classification of Tour of Britain on Sunday, after a 6th place finish in the short Stage 8a ITT in London. The 88.8km Stage 8b came down to a head-to-head sprint between Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) and Mark Cavendish, with Cavendish launching off Kittel's wheel and getting an early advantage, but Kittel coming back before the line to win.
In the 8.8km ITT Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) was victorious with a 9 minute and 50 second time. Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) was 2nd by 08", and Stephen Cummings (BMC Racing Team) was 3rd by 09". Kwiatkowski finished 16" down. The stage results kept Kwiatkowski in 2nd in the GC, down by 10" on Dylan Van Baarle (Garmin-Sharp).
Full results of Stage 8a available here.
The Stage 8b stage was full gas from the start, but eventually settled down with 60km to go. A five rider escape group eventually was down to four after a crash, and then one rider bridged to two original leaders of the breakaway late in the race. The peloton made sure the gap was always close, and the catch was made with several kilometers left in the stage. As the line approached, with two corners in the final few hundred meters, #OPQS emerged on the left and Giant-Shimano on the right. Just before the sprint Mark Renshaw was in front of Kittel, with Cavendish on his wheel. The initial acceleration put Cavendish ahead, but Kittel had enough power to cross the line with the stage win. Cavendish was 2nd, and Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani-CSF) was 3rd.
Van Baarle held on to the overall with Kwiatkowski finishing down by 10" after the final stage.
"I'm happy with what we did as a team," Kwiatkowski said. "We won three stages, I finished 2nd overall and won the points jersey. It was a great week here at Tour of Britain. Every single stage was a little bit like a Classic. Up and down, full gas until the end. It wasn't easy to control the race with only 6 riders here for the team, that's why I really want to thank my teammates for their great job. I'm happy with my condition and I think we all are satisfied with what we did. Now I'm now looking forward to Worlds. Good kilometers, good weather, and hard racing have prepared me well. My morale is high and I know I'm on the right path."
"It's been a great week riding with the team," Cavendish said. "The boys rode really hard and they've given eveyrthing. The team spirit has been fantastic. At the end of the day I've had a hard week. I would have liked to have won the stage but it wasn't a perfect finish. At the end of the day Kittel also had a little more left in the tank. But I'm happy, especially after crashing early in this Tour of Britain. I'll come back next season stronger and fitter, and will look again to win with the help of my teammates."