8th for Battling Partridge at The Tour of Britain
12.09.07: recycling.co.uk's Rob Partridge finished 8th today on stage 3 of the Tour of Britain from Worcester to Wolverhampton. Rob, at just 22 years old, is now a veteran of this race riding in his 4th edition in as many years.
He joined eight other riders in a move that went clear before the first sprint of the day at the Three Counties Showground. His break away companions were Pro Tour rider's Matt Goss (Team CSC), Roger Hammond (T-Mobile) and Martijn Maaskant (Rabobank), together with Freddy Bichot (Agritubel), Ben Swift (Barloworld) Paul Manning (Great Britain) and Zakkari Dempster (SouthAustralia.com).
The group worked well together and it was Goss who proved strongest in the latter part of the stage. The Australian attacked on the final climb of the day at Sutton Bank to dislodge both Partridge and Swift on his way to the stage win.
Team manager John Herety talked about Rob's day in the lead, saying after the stage; "That was a better day for us, Rob learnt from trying too hard yesterday and got in the move of the day. He was tailed off on the last climb; he was strong on the flat but struggled on the climbs today. But he chased hard, he was going as fast as the group on the flat." On Rob's current condition John stated, "He is looking a little thin, he's lost about 2kg recently, I remarked to him the other day about it, he needs to maintain his weight."
With regard to Rob's courageous team mates who all finished safely in the bunch today, John said; "Ryan Bonsor has a cold, they are tired, they were juniors last year and there are not as many races and they are not as long. Perhaps this is a stage race too far for them, they are still finding out about themselves."
On yesterday's team withdrawals he said; "Adam's not a lot better this morning, we will send him to his Doctor. Chris' wife is stable and may be able to leave hospital tonight."
Tomorrow's 4th stage starts in Rotherham and finishes in Bradford after 101.5 miles of tough Yorkshire racing.
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