Sean McKenna’s Tour of Britain Diary – Stage 2 – Kielder water and forest park – Blyth
It was a long day today and not just on the bike. We had an hour and a half transfer before the stage and then two and a half hours after the stage back to the hotel and along with five and a half hours on the bike, it was a long day. We only finished dinner at 9.30. You hear the pros moaning about transfers but you can understand why.
The race was a bit easier than yesterday. Yesterday was hard and I woke up a bit groggy. Thankfully (Jacob Scott) Scotty got in the early move again and he picked up a few mountain points which is sweet, so he’s tied for King of the Mountains now.
It was controlled back in the bunch. There was a tailwind start for the first 100kms or so which made it hard enough because it was on rolly roads, very similar to home so you’re just pedalling the whole time and like yesterday, it was hard. But once you turned into the headwind, it bunched up a bit and you could kind of cruise around. So the last 100 kms wasn’t too bad.
The finish though was crazy fast. You have some respect for those lads riding at the front all day and then they pull together a leadout train. They get one lad to ride at the front all day and the rest of them just whack it at the end and pull out a serious leadout. People have this image that cyclists are just skinny lads but the riders who are going fast on the flat are so big and so strong.
The last 10kms or so was ridiculously fast. We were only a bit under 60kph for the last 10 kms. It was proper fast. Going at that speed and then you see (Philippe) Gilbert attacking. He then came back to the bunch and (Matthew) Teggart said he was hardly even breathing. He was a couple of minutes off the front on his own and Teggart said when he came back he didn’t even look tired.
I had trouble getting into the 11 sprocket today, the gears were a bit sticky and I had a max cadence of 140. The speed was phenomenal. But I got around. I finished somewhere towards the back of the bunch so it’s not too bad. Happy enough to have a bit of an easy day and to see Scotty get up the road. Hopefully, we can help him for the rest of the week and take home a jersey. That’s one of the main aims for the team.
He is a God