Chris Sutton (Garmin-Slipstream) won the battle of the sprinters in York today at the end of stage one of the Tour of Britain. Sutton held off Michel Merlo (Barloworld) and Ben Swift (Team Katusha) as the peloton thundered down the narrow finishing straight in the Yorkshire city.
Sutton was delighted to have won the sunny 173km stage, which averaged nearly 42kph. "Wearing the yellow jersey is one of the highlights of my career," said Sutton afterwards. "I came so close to winning a couple of stages last year and to sprint for myself and win one is kinda nice. Our team is on a roll at the moment with three victories in the last 24 hours."
Garmin-Slipstream rode on the front for long periods to bring Sutton into contention for the sprint.
"The team knew I was motivated," said Sutton: "I told them I could win three or four stages here. They stuck their heads out into the wind and rode on the front. It is hard to control a bike race with only six riders but everyone is in the same boat and we pulled it off today.
"Anything is possible now and I just have to take it day by day. You can have good legs one day and bad ones the next. It's a good sign for me because I didn't feel super great today but still pulled off the win and I can only get better from here, I hope. For me to win the overall is a big ask. I would love to win the stage in London."
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