Stage 1Flat stageIain, racing for Team MondayThe ride outMonday, 7 September 2026Combativity
Team Monday nearly rewrites the record books on Benton Road
Iain opens the Tour de Toon with a near-miss on his own personal best, launching Team Monday straight to the top of the general classification.
It was meant to be a routine opener, but Iain, racing for Team Monday, produced a real statement on the Benton Rd short Sprint, coming home just 2 seconds off his personal best. Fresh legs and a full week of intentions, as promised — this was the ride of a man who has forgotten where his lights are but not how to turn the pedals.
The damage was done in barely a minute of effort, the kind of sprint that either makes a stage or is forgotten by the next set of lights. Not this time. Team Monday’s directeur sportif, watching from somewhere behind a windscreen, will have seen enough to know the tone for the whole week has been set early.
From there the route did what it always does, pulling Iain on through Heaton and down towards the river, buses and Metro trains providing the soundtrack as ever on Chillingham Road. Out onto Byker Bridge the westerly breeze got to work, the crosswind that never quite lets that crossing feel routine, before the descent into St Ann’s and the reveal of the river between the buildings.
The finish came along the Quayside, gulls overhead and the tide doing whatever the tide does, cobbles underwheel as Iain rolled home at 21.8 km/h having climbed 46 metres across the 8.08 km stage. It’s early days, but this was exactly the kind of opening ride the Tour de Toon needed.
With only one leg raced so far, Team Monday take the yellow jersey by default — but on this evidence, nobody in the Optimists’ camp will be treating it as a formality. The general classification is theirs to lose, and the rest of the week now knows the number to beat.