Tour of Britain race leader Nick Nuyens was sounding increasingly confident after he and his QuickStep team successfully defended the yellow jersey against all attacks by his rivals yesterday. "It was hilly today but for me it was quite easy," the Belgian said at the post-stage press conference. "The team worked really well today so I only had to stay on their wheels. They were working perfectly. On the flat I had Ivan Santaromita and Davide Bramati, and then when you have a guy like [Mick] Rogers who is doing the work on the climbs, I think it can't be better. I just had to stay on their wheels. A lot of guys were being dropped, so it was great."
Danish rider Michael Blaudzun (Team CSC) said before the stage that he would try to take back the seven seconds that separated him from yellow. He didn't get far. "Rogers was setting such a high pace that no-one could attack," said Nuyens. "They could get 100 metres but he was going so well that he would bring them back. I just had to stay on his wheel, so there were no problems."
