Tom Stewart was denied the title of King of the Mountains at the 2015 Tour of Britain, despite a heroic team effort on the final two ascents of the competition.
Tom Stewart was denied the title of King of the Mountains at the 2015 Tour of Britain, despite a heroic team effort on the final two ascents of the competition.
Madison Genesis went into the penultimate day with both Stewart and Mark McNally joint second on points in the mountains classification – and Stewart elevated himself into joint first position after the first climb of the day.
Stewart gained his points as part of the first breakaway of the day, but was reeled in by the peloton 50-kilometres in to the 227-kilometre penultimate stage.
A break containing Gabriel Cullaigh (Great Britain Cycling Team), Alex Dowsett (Movistar) and Graham Briggs (JLT Condor) then went clear, gaining a maximum of eight minutes.
On the first of the two remaining climbs, Stewart went in search of a single point but was denied the outright lead in the classification.
With the final climb fast approaching and the breakaway’s lead at two minutes, team manager Roger Hammond made the decision to put the whole team onto the front of the peloton.
Aiming to bring back the break and expose the maximum possible points available for both Stewart and McNally, the gap was quickly reduced and at the foot of the final climb the leaders were taken back into the bunch.
A frantic climb followed, with Stewart searching for maximum points, but his efforts were thwarted and he would be destined to finish second in a competition that has raged since the opening day of the tour.