Alex Paton displayed his pure grit & determination to come away from the Tour of Britain with the red sprinter's jersey. After a thrilling finale on the final day in London, the 28-year-old won the final intermediate sprint of the eight-day race ahead of Matt Holmes, who fought him all week. Having spent the whole race embedded in the team, HUNT's Road & CX Brand Manager, Ollie Gray had this to say:
"I had a great week with the guys and hopefully helped them achieve what they set out to. The highlight for me was Rosie taking it to the line on that last day. He's a stellar guy and really deserves the success, his whole family was there to see him bring it home and it really just sent a special feeling through the rest of the riders & staff to see it unfold the way it did on the day"
The fight for the jersey ended with a long 1km sprint with Paton going deep into his reserves to respond with a perfectly timed response to Holmes' long attack, which would have seen him take the jersey had Alex not taken any points. We might be biased, but we like to think Paton's forward-thinking approach to wheels & tyres (big fan of tubeless, and races on 60-65psi!) contributed to his ability to tie up the jersey.
“I knew I had to pull something special out of the bag and I’m not sure where I got it from tobe honest."
Alex Paton | Canyon Eisberg
Alex Paton | Canyon Eisberg
The efforts from the UCI Continental squad did not stop there, with Max Stedman finishing with a top 20 overall result, alongside a smattering of top 10 stage results from Andrew Tennant and Stedman. Once again, the boys in blue refused to be overawed by World Tour opponents and punched well above their weight.
