Mark Renshaw (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) claimed stage 2 of this year’s Tour of Britain, after beating Team Sky’s Ben Swift in a sprint finish in Llandudno today.
Renshaw capitalized on Swift’s ill-timed move, to come around the British rider with a final acceleration for the line.
The Finale
Alex Dowsett attempted a last minute breakaway effort toward the line. However, Bradley Wiggins was there to mark his move in an attempt to position his teammate Swift – ultimately reeling Dowsett back into the chase group.
From there, Swift made his move, but Renshaw was right there with a counter-measure of his own to slip past him in the closing meters.
“It was a great stage, a great victory, my first for the year with Omega Pharma-Quick Step,” Renshaw told British Eurosport. “It’s always good to win, I’ve had victories here before on the Tour of Britain and it’s good to do it again.”
As a result of his stage victory today, Renshaw is now the wearer of the yellow jersey, as the previous race leader, Marcel Kittel, lost contact with the peloton on the Great Orme.
“It’s great to be in yellow, it’s a bonus,” Renshaw said. “We came here to work for but he had a really bad crash yesterday and is just trying to recover at the moment so he gave me a chance and it’s a really good victory.”
In other news, Sky’s Ian Stannard withdrew from the Tour with a fractured scaphoid that suffered during a crash in yesterday’s opening stage.
Stage 2 Results
AUS 1 RENSHAW, Mark (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) 4:38:54 GBR 2 SWIFT, Ben (SKY) IRL 3 BENNETT, Sam (NETAPP – ENDURA) USA 4 FARRAR, Tyler (GARMIN SHARP) GER 5 ZABEL, Rick (BMC RACING) POL 6 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) FRA 7 PINEAU, Jérôme (IAM CYCLING) NED 8 TERPSTRA, Niki (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) ITA 9 RUFFONI, Nicola (BARDIANI CSF) AUS 10 HAUSSLER, Heinrich (IAM CYCLING) GBR 11 WIGGINS, Bradley (SKY) RUS 12 TRUSOV, Nikolay (TINKOFF-SAXO) GBR 13 PETERS, Alex (MADISON GENESIS) GBR 14 THWAITES, Scott (NETAPP – ENDURA) NZL 15 BAUER, Jack (GARMIN SHARP) GBR 16 BLYTHE, Adam (NFTO) ESP 17 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Jon (MOVISTAR) FRA 18 BOULE, Matthieu (RALEIGH) GBR 19 DOWSETT, Alex (MOVISTAR) GBR 20 MCLAY, Daniel (GREAT BRITAIN)
General Classification after Stage 2 AUS 1 RENSHAW, Mark (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) 6:55:19 GBR 2 SWIFT, Ben (SKY) + 4 ITA 3 RUFFONI, Nicola (BARDIANI CSF) IRL 4 BENNETT, Sam (NETAPP – ENDURA) + 6 GBR 5 CAVENDISH, Mark (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) GBR 6 DOWSETT, Alex (MOVISTAR) + 7 GBR 7 HANDLEY, Richard (RAPHA CONDOR JLT) USA 8 FARRAR, Tyler (GARMIN SHARP) + 10 AUS 9 HAUSSLER, Heinrich (IAM CYCLING) GER 10 ZABEL, Rick (BMC RACING)
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