Caerphilly, Wales – After shepherding many of his Teammates to the podium this the season, the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team’s Chris Jones, one of the squad’s workhorses, scored a top 10 result of his own on Friday, September 14, in Stage 7 of the 2012 Tour of Britain, finishing in 7th place in the Welshpool to Caerphilly stage. Leopold Koenig (CZE) of Team NetApp won the stage, with Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (GBR) taking second place and Nathan Haas (AUS) of Garmin-Sharp finished in third.
 Photo by Jonathan Devich (epicimages.us) Jones’ effort extended the U.S. based Pro Continental Team’s top 10 finishes to six consecutive days in the lauded Tour across the UK. In addition, the Northern Californian’s performance vaulted him into 6th place in the General Classification, and along with Teammate, Boy van Poppel (who slipped one place in the GC from 3rd to 4th), two UnitedHealthcare riders now reside in the top 10 overall. Team Director, Hendrik Redant, said, “Boy van Poppel and Chris Jones did an excellent job maintaining their position in the front of the group today. Boy stayed with the gold jersey, while Chris covered another attack the second time we went over Caerphilly Hill. Chris was able to finish 7th while van Poppel managed to come in 15th, together with the gold jersey, good enough for Boy to retain the blue points leader’s jersey.”
Redant continued, “It was good to be on the podium again, with Boy holding on to the Chain Reaction Cycles Points Leader Jersey. This has been a very good Tour for the Team, winning the Team Classification yesterday and getting on the podium several times this week, including a stage win. We still have two more stages to go, so we’re going to keep giving it everything we’ve got.” Heading into the final weekend of the 2012 Tour of Britain, van Poppel’s 4th place overall standing has him just 20 seconds out of first place and two seconds away from regaining the 3rd place position, while Jones 6th place GC standing has him 33 seconds behind the race leader. The Tour of Britain is now the UK’s biggest professional bike race and the country’s largest free-to-watch sporting event. Stages 7 will take the peloton from Barnstaple to Dartmouth on Saturday, September 15, and the race will finish in what promises to be a thrilling Reigate to Guildford Stage 8 on Sunday, September 16. TEAM UNITEDHEALTHCARE ROSTER FOR THE 2012 TOUR OF BRITAIN (September 9-16, 2012):
THE TOUR OF BRITAIN The 2012 Tour of Britain will take place Sunday, September 9 – 16, 2012. Stage 1: Sunday, September 9, Ipswich to Norfolk Showground Stage 2: Monday, September 10, Nottingham to Knowsley Stage 3: Tuesday, September 11, Jedburgh to Dumfries Stage 4: Wednesday, September 12, Carlisle to Blackpool Stage 5: Thursday, September 13, The Stoke-on-Trent Stage Stage 6: Friday, September 14, Welshpool to Caerphilly Stage 7: Saturday, September 15, Barnstaple to Dartmouth Stage 8: Sunday, September 16, Reigate to Guildford Re-launched in 2004 after a five-year absence from the calendar, The Tour of Britain is now the UK’s biggest professional cycle race and the country’s largest free-to-watch sporting event. Ranked at the 2.1 level by the UCI, the sport’s governing body, The Tour of Britain attracts some of the world’s top cyclists, including Olympic and World Champions and Tour de France stage winners, to compete on British roads each September. The Tour of Britain is proud to be partnered with IG Markets, SKODA and Yodel. For details of The Tour of Britain, go to www.tourofbritain.co.uk. You can follow The Tour of Britain on Twitter, via www.twitter.com/tourofbritain. |
