Tour of Britain

Stage 1: Kelso - Kelso

GB United Kingdom Tuesday 03 September 2024 181.9 km

Paul Magnier eases to victory at the Tour of Britain

Paul Magnier eases to victory at the Tour of Britain

Soudal Quick-Step made its Tour of Britain return in style, three years after the previous appearance at the race, taking the victory on the opening day thanks to an excellent team effort. One of this season’s revelations, Paul Magnier powered to his third victory for the team, after the ones at the Challenge Mallorca and Tour of Oman, giving no chance to his opponents in Kelso, where the day concluded after a closing kilometer which included a cobbled section just before the finish.

It was an eventful stage, with a three-man breakaway animating things while behind Soudal Quick-Step controlled the gap, and plenty of attacks launched on the last two climbs. Among those to show their intention were double World Champion Julian Alaphilippe and double Olympic Champion Remco Evenepoel, who put the hammer down and stretched out the field.

As soon as things came back together, the Wolfpack returned at the front of the peloton, Gil Gelders doing a tremendous effort to keep our team in a perfect position going into the final part of this 181.9km stage. The same Evenepoel and Alaphilippe came to the fore and pushed a huge tempo that put Magnier in a great position, from where the 20-year-old French neo-pro unleashed a late burst of sprint.

“We had a plan for today. Julian and Remco tried to go on the attack and make the race hard, but after the peloton came back, they worked for me and I did my best to repay their effort with a win. It was very important to be well-positioned in the finale, and having two champions work for me there gave me wings. I launched my sprint just before the cobbles and I am happy I could go all the way and take the victory. It feels incredible and I am proud of taking the leader’s jersey. I knew I was in good shape after my result in Plouay and I hope to continue showing this in the race”, said Paul, the youngest rider in the last 18 years to lead the Tour of Britain.

 

Photo credit: ©SWpix

Race details

1 Paul Magnier
Soudal Quick-Step
4:11:45
2 Ethan Vernon
Israel - Premier Tech
0:00
3 Robert Donaldson
Trinity Racing
0:00
4 Thomas Pidcock
INEOS Grenadiers
0:00
5 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
6 Rory Townsend
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
0:00
7 Edoardo Zambanini
Bahrain - Victorious
0:00
8 Matevž Govekar
Bahrain - Victorious
0:00
9 Jake Stewart
Israel - Premier Tech
0:00
10 Norman Vahtra
Van Rysel - Roubaix
0:00
54 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
59 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:12
63 Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step
0:49
102 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
10:07
107 Gianni Moscon
Soudal Quick-Step
15:04
1 Paul Magnier
Soudal Quick-Step
4:11:35
2 Julius Johansen
Sabgal / Anicolor
0:01
3 Ethan Vernon
Israel - Premier Tech
0:04
4 Robert Donaldson
Trinity Racing
0:06
5 Thomas Pidcock
INEOS Grenadiers
0:08
6 Jonas Abrahamsen
Uno-X Mobility
0:09
7 Ben Turner
INEOS Grenadiers
0:09
8 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:10
9 Rory Townsend
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
0:10
10 Edoardo Zambanini
Bahrain - Victorious
0:10
54 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
0:10
59 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:22
63 Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step
0:59
102 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
10:17
107 Gianni Moscon
Soudal Quick-Step
15:14
1 Julius Johansen
Sabgal / Anicolor
30 pt
2 Paul Magnier
Soudal Quick-Step
25 pt
3 Ethan Vernon
Israel - Premier Tech
18 pt
4 Thomas Pidcock
INEOS Grenadiers
15 pt
5 Callum Thornley
Trinity Racing
14 pt
6 Robert Donaldson
Trinity Racing
12 pt
7 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
6 pt
8 Jonas Abrahamsen
Uno-X Mobility
5 pt
9 Ben Turner
INEOS Grenadiers
5 pt
10 Rory Townsend
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
5 pt
16 Gianni Moscon
Soudal Quick-Step
3 pt
20 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
1 pt
21 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
1 pt
1 Callum Thornley
Trinity Racing
20 pt
2 Julius Johansen
Sabgal / Anicolor
14 pt
3 Callum Ormiston
Global 6 United
12 pt
4 Thomas Pidcock
INEOS Grenadiers
6 pt
5 Nick Schultz
Israel - Premier Tech
5 pt
6 Gianni Moscon
Soudal Quick-Step
5 pt
7 Joseph Blackmore
Israel - Premier Tech
4 pt
8 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
4 pt
9 Oscar Onley
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
3 pt
10 Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step
3 pt
1 Paul Magnier
Soudal Quick-Step
4:11:35
2 Robert Donaldson
Trinity Racing
0:06
3 Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team
0:10
4 Lewis Bower
Equipe continentale Groupama-FDJ
0:10
5 Oscar Onley
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:10
6 Joseph Blackmore
Israel - Premier Tech
0:10
7 Nils Aebersold
Lidl - Trek Future Racing
0:10
8 Fergus Browning
Trinity Racing
0:10
9 Bjoern Koerdt
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:10
10 Louis Sutton
Great Britain
0:10
21 Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step
0:59
36 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
10:17
1 Israel - Premier Tech 12:35:15
2 Bahrain - Victorious 0:00
3 Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team 0:00
4 Team dsm-firmenich PostNL 0:00
5 Van Rysel - Roubaix 0:00
6 Great Britain 0:00
7 Sabgal / Anicolor 0:00
8 INEOS Grenadiers 0:00
9 Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team 0:00
10 Uno-X Mobility 0:00

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