Great Britain Cycling Team’s Alex Peters moved up the general classification after a strong ride saw him finish in a much-reduced peloton on the first mountain stage of the 2015 Tour de l’Avenir on Wednesday.
Team Sky apprentice Peters, who is guesting for Great Britain Cycling team alongside Steve Williams and four British Cycling Senior Academy riders, came home in a group 24 seconds behind the remains of the day’s breakaway, the race decimated by a fast finish over a double climb of the Cote de Chatillon-sur-Cluses.
Stage four took riders 146.7 kilometres from Annemasse to Cluses on a parcours that looked on paper to be a gentle introduction to the race’s mountainous finale.
After a number of early attacks came to nought an eight-man group broke away at around 100 kilometres to go; Dries Van Gestel (Belgium), Jan Dieteren (Germany), Joao Rodrigues (Portugal), Anders Skaarseth (Norway), Ziga Rucigaj (Slovenia), Gian Friesecke (Switzerland), Thery Schir (Switzerland), Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Denmark), Julien Amezqueta (Spain) and Christofer Jurado (World Center).
The break managed to stay away over the two passages of the Cote de Chatillion-sur-Cluses but as the finish in Cluses approached their lead was whittled away.
At three kilometres to go the leading group began to fragment with Van Gestel, Skaarseth, Schmidt and Amezqueta forging ahead. The remnants were swept up by the charging peloton, Schmidt taking victory in the four-way sprint and adding another stage win to the Danish team’s haul.
Alex Peters was Great Britain’s best finisher on the stage, the only Brit to come home in the main peloton 24 seconds behind the race winner.
The combination of the pace, terrain and hot conditions had blown the remainder of the race apart. Steve Williams was next Briton home, in a small group eight minutes and 25 seconds down on Schmidt. In the same group was Gabriel Cullaigh while Chris Lawless lost over 15 minutes. Jake Kelly and Mark Stewart suffered the most, finishing 34 minutes and seven seconds back
The day’s events meant that Chilean Jose Luis Rodriguez, second on general classification overnight, leapfrogged Switzerland’s Tom Bohli in the yellow jersey competition, the South American revelling in the first day in the hills.
Alex Peters’ performance saw him move up to 17th place overall, one minute and 40 seconds behind the Chilean, with Gabriel Cullaigh finally dropping out of the top twenty.
The race continues on Thursday with stage five, 103.1-kilometres from Megeve to La Rosiere-Montvalezan with one second-category climb and three first-category ramps finishing on the Montee de la Rosiere.
