Tour of Britain: Mark Renshaw leads after winning stage two
- Published
Renshaw is usually Mark Cavendish's lead-out man at Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Australia's Mark Renshaw leads the Tour of Britain after winning stage two's sprint finish in Llandudno.
The Omega Pharma - Quick-Step rider hit the front in the final 100m of the 200km race to pip Britain's Ben Swift with Ireland's Sam Bennett in third.
Marcel Kittel, who won stage one, found the 3km ascent of the Great Orme hill, 8km from the finish, too tough and he lost the leader's yellow jersey.
Defending champion Sir Bradley Wiggins finished safely in the peloton.
Wiggins came to the front of the main bunch in the final kilometre, in an attempt to lead-out Team Sky team-mate Swift for the stage win but the Rotherham sprinter was unable to hold off Renshaw.
It was a well-worked victory from the Omega team after their riders Michal Kwiatkowski and Niki Terpstra attacked separately on the descent of the Orme in an effort to stretch their rivals.
Their efforts worked as Renshaw, who is usually trying to deliver Mark Cavendish to the line, sprinted clear on the Llandudno promenade. Cavendish, who was still feeling the effects of a crash on stage one, was not involved in the sprint.
What will happen on stage three? |
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"This is going to be a really hard day. I know these roads well and it is up and down all day. We are climbing pretty much straight away and I'd expect a strong bunch of riders to make a break, which will be tough to reel back in because each team only has six riders to share the chasing workload, rather than the nine you get for a Grand Tour like the Tour de France. There is a potential for the break to stay away but it will be a fast run-in to The Tumble and anyone who missed the break will be racing fast to the summit finish." |
While Swift missed out on victory, he could console himself with the points leaders' jersey.
"It was really hard out there," he said on the Team Sky website. "The team were brilliant and sat together looking after each other.
"The finish was quite a tough one with a bit of a dangerous descent. You needed to be at the front and that's where we were. I just mistimed the sprint and went a little bit too early. We knew it was a bit of a tailwind finish but I could have waited for 50 or 100 metres more.
"I've got the points jersey now but our main goal this week is to try and win the yellow jersey with Bradley Wiggins. He's shown that he's in great form."
Stage 2 result:
1. Mark Renshaw (Aus/Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) 4hrs 38mins 54secs
2. Ben Swift (GB/Team Sky) same time
3. Sam Bennett (Irl/Team NetApp-Endura)
4. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Sharp)
5. Rick Zabel (Ger/BMC Racing Team)
6. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol/Omega Pharma - Quick-Step)
7. Jerome Pineau (Fra/IAM Cycling)
8. Niki Terpstra (NED/Omega Pharma - Quick-Step)
9. Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani CSF,
10. Heinrich Haussler (Aus/IAM Cycling)
11. Bradley Wiggins (GB/Team Sky)
Overall classification after stage 2:
1. Mark Renshaw (Aus/Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) 6hrs 55mins 19secs
2. Ben Swift (GB/Team Sky) +4secs
3. Nicola Ruffoni (Ita/Bardiani CSF
4. Sam Bennett (Irl/Team NetApp-Endura) +6secs
5. Mark Cavendish (Gbr/Omega Pharma - Quick-Step)
6. Alex Dowsett (GB/Movistar) +7secs
7. Richard Handley (GB/Rapha Condor JTL)
8. Tyler Farrar (USA/Garmin-Sharp) +10secs
9. Heinrich Haussler (Aus/IAM Cycling
10. Rick Zabel (Ger/BMC Racing)
Selected other: 36. Bradley Wiggins (GB/Team Sky) +10secs,
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