A stage win and second overall: Lewis Askey’s Tour of Britain debut could not have gone much better.
With the help of his teammates, Askey navigated his way through a crazy final stage in the Scottish Borders on Sunday to seal his status as this year’s runner-up.
“Obviously I would have loved to come away with the win, but I couldn’t have done any more,” he says “I’m happy with my week – it’s been good.
“I asked before coming here to do the GC – we thought it was going to be too hard for me. I’m not surprised with the stage win, but holding on to second on GC was me outperforming what was expected of me.”
Stage five was another frantic day of racing in Britain, with the crucial moment of the stage coming after the first categorized climb at Redstone Rig. UAE Team Emirates – XRG and Netcompany INEOS split the peloton in crosswinds on exposed, narrow roads deep in the heart of the countryside.
This split eventually saw eight riders form a lead group, including five from UAE, with Askey battling in the second group with Jake Stewart to preserve his GC position.
“I made one slight mistake today – a little bit of lack of urgency when we came into the crosswinds,” Askey says. “I wasn’t in that very first split, so I had to wait for reinforcements. We had to give up the stage win at that point and focus on getting second on GC.
“Those guys up front – they’re the strongest guys in the race. We just had to keep it moving and go hard all the way to the line. We knew they’d attack each other in the final, which would give us some time back.
“Jake was on an outrageous day today. I think without him here today, I would not be sitting second on GC.”