Team Thursday clocks up landmark 200th trip through Forest Hall

Forest Hall to the lights doesn’t sound like the stuff of history, but for Iain, racing today for Team Thursday, it was: the 200th time up that stretch to the lights, a quiet landmark reached almost in passing. There was no fanfare, no fresh best - 5 seconds down on last time and 22 off his fastest - but the sheer weight of repetition on that short flat drag says something about the miles that lie beneath every stage of this Tour.

From there the story was one of honest, unspectacular grinding rather than fireworks. Benton and Chilly Road and Benton Road South both came in well down on recent efforts, the legs clearly carrying fatigue rather than freshness, and the long haul out past the cemetery and through Central Heatin’ never quite caught fire. Team Thursday were never chasing splits today, just chasing the finish.

The bridge, as ever, extracted its toll. Crossing on the pedestrian path cost the biggest chunk of time anywhere on the stage, a full 59 seconds down on the last crossing, with the bus lane and cycle path sections following the same pattern - competent, unspectacular, honest riding into what the conditions suggest was a helpful westerly at his back rather than in his face. Down among the gulls and the tide smell at the bottom, St Ann’s to the Tyne Bridge and the run along the Quay closed the stage out, the Quay TT actually the one bright spot, 14 seconds quicker than last time as Iain found something in the legs for the finish.

It’s a first leg for Team Thursday in this Tour, and the numbers land them straight into second overall, 101 seconds per 10 km down on the pace but ahead of Team Tuesday, who slip to third. Team Wednesday remain out in front, untouched at the summit of the general classification, but The Diesels have made an immediate mark on the table - stubborn, unglamorous, and already climbing.