Two years after taking an impressive solo victory after a long-distance breakaway at the Tour of Britain, Julien Vermote (Etixx-QuickStep) continued his love affair with the British race by claiming another victory in similar fashion on stage 2 of the 2016 edition of the race. Having joined an initial breakaway, he was the only rider who could follow Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) when the favourites arrived from behind and he easily beat the Brit in the uphill sprint to take both the stage win and the leader’s jersey. Daniel Martin won the sprint for third to make it two Etixx-QuickStep riders on the podium.

 

We have gathered several reactions.

 

Tour of Britain leader Julien Vermote: The GC is not a goal

The Tour of Britain is very much to Julien Vermote's liking, and quite frankly, what isn't to like at a race which reminds him of Belgium, with its steep climbs, twisty and narrow roads and wet conditions. Same Tour of Britain – in which Etixx – Quick-Step holds the record for the most stage victories – was the race in which Vermote took his first win outside of Belgium, two years ago, following a superb action in the stage to Brighton, and he repeated that feat this season, after a day made challenging not only by the rolling terrain, but also by the grim weather which was keen to play a major part in the outcome.

 

On Monday, Julien Vermote jumped from the peloton once the neutral zone was left behind after the start of stage 2 and was joined by 14 other men, together with whom he gradually extended the lead to four minutes. While some of those riders showed an interest in the bonus seconds at the intermediate sprints or in the KOM points, Vermote kept an eye on the gap and the kilometers left to the finish, as he felt that the move may have a chance of making it to the line, especially as the heavy rain slowed down the peloton which was already chewing into their advantage by that point.

 

As expected, on the last climbs the bunch got fragmented and a chase group was formed, Dan Martin being among those who got infiltrated there, before eventually joining the break inside the final 20 kilometers. Several attacks soon followed, but the group sticked together until a strong acceleration of Cummings split it. Vermote was the only one to react and the duo soon built a 40-second gap which allowed them to fight for victory in Kendal. The uphill drag to the finish didn't pose any problem to Vermote, who powered away and won with a two-second margin, thus bagging his first victory of the season.

 

The chasing group arrived a minute later and Dan Martin proved to be the strongest, as he launched a short attack which netted him third on the stage, as well as in the general classification, which is led by his teammate following the remarkable performance of Monday afternoon, when he brought the squad's fourth success in the space of just three days.

 

"It's always nice to get a victory, particularly here, where I've already won a beautiful stage a few years ago. I have a special feeling every time I come to this race, as I like the course and the fans who are cheering for us. Also, Britain is a little bit similar to Flanders, and I find this very appealing", said Vermote, who helped the squad top the team rankings at the end of the stage.

 

After returning from the podium, where he received the yellow jersey and the points one, Vermote – Etixx – Quick-Step's 18th different rider to win a race this season – described the grueling 188-km long stage between Carlisle and Kendal:

 

"Nowadays in cycling it isn't easy anymore to get a victory, so I knew I had to give it my all. The parcours was tough, up and down all the time, kind of like two years ago, in Brighton. When the break got caught by the chasing group and Steven attacked, I was pretty empty, but I knew that I don't want to miss this chance. He was very strong, but I overcame the pain and the climbs and now I'm super happy. Despite being leader in the overall standings, I'm not thinking of the GC; all I want is to do my best this week and to enjoy this great moment.

 

"I knew once the break it had gone it would be very difficult to catch us or if they did catch us they would have wasted a lot of energy as well. Once I saw Cummings coming back I knew I had to stay in his wheel because once he gets a little gap he's gone. We had good co-operation between us but I'm really glad I could take the stage win.

"I asked the team to come here, I knew it wasn't originally in the programme but I knew there would be some opportunities. It’s an open race with only 6 riders per team so that makes it different to all the other races. It's a really tough race though, small roads and up and down all day but I'm just really happy I took my chance."

 

“It’s always nice to win and particularly here, because I have a special feeling with this tour. I had a lot of motivation to come here but it’s never easy to win. There was a big group early on and it was a very tough stage because it was up and down all day. And then the last official climb was very hard.”

 

Adrien Costa possible non-starter after bad crash in Britain

Unfortunately, not everything went perfect for Etixx – Quick-Step on Monday, as stagiaire Adrien Costa crashed in the final 70 kilometers. However, the 19-year-old put in a brave ride to complete the stage, at the end of which he went to the hospital for further medical examinations. The team will assess his condition tomorrow morning before deciding if Adrien can start stage 3 (Congleton – Tatton Park, 179.4 kilometers).

 

Steve Cummings in perfect position to win Tour of Britain

It was another rainy day at the Tour of Britain, yet one that offered an exciting finale. In the end it was Julien Vermote (Etixx-QuickStep) who took the stage win, just ahead of Steve Cummings. Both had made the decisive move inside the last 10 kilometers. They crossed the finish line in Kendal nearly 1 minute ahead of Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and the closest chasers.

 

Johann van Zyl flew the flag for Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka in the break. With roughly 30 kilometers to go 5 riders were left out front. It was then that Van Zyl dropped back to help Steve Cummings to come to the fore. The Brit eventually made the junction and bridged across to the break 11 kilometers from the line in Kendal. He didn’t want to waste much time though and decided to put in another attack. The first one got countered. However, when he kicked again it was only Vermote who managed to stay in his wheel.

 

Cummings set a blistering pace at the front of the race, with Vermote also taking a few turns in the lead. They reached the last kilometer more than 30 seconds ahead of the chasers. With the last 500 meters dragging up to the finish Cummings led the race from the front. Vermote started his sprint with 150 meters to go and Cummings had to resort to finish 2nd. The Belgian also took over the lead in the GC, while Cummings’ gutsy ride put him into a good position for the overall. He now sits 2nd in this classification, only 6 seconds down on Vermote.

 

Steve Cummings said:

 

”I have to thank the team. They did an awesome job to put me in the perfect position. I’m sorry that I couldn’t reward the effort with the win today.”

 

“Obviously I was going for the stage from the start but with who I was with, the best option was to then gain time on the others. I was racing for time in the end rather than the stage,” Cummings told Cyclingnews.

 

“Going into the time trial it looks quite good for me but every day is difficult here. I’m happy with my shape. I need to make some good adjustments coming into September and need to be a bit lighter and then I’ll be better on the climbs but this is really good. It was a really good test. We just go day by day because it’s so difficult to control. I’ve put myself in a good position but it could all turn around again tomorrow.”

 

Tony Gallopin off to solid start in Britain, Greipel in the break

Nineteen kilometres after the start of stage two in the Tour of Britain, fifteen riders set up a breakaway. André Greipel joined the escapees and gave the breakaway some extra colour with his yellow leader’s jersey. The German champion won every intermediate sprint. On the last climb Greipel and some of his companions were dropped from the first group. In the peloton Cummings and Dennis attacked and set up a chasing group with among others Tony Gallopin.

 

Tony Gallopin finished fifth. Vermote is the new leader in the GC ranking and shares the first place in the sprint classification with André Greipel. Gallopin moves to the sixth place of the GC.

 

Nicolas Roche takes over from Wout Poels for Sky in home race

Ben Swift jumped up to fifth place overall with a gutsy ride in difficult conditions on day two at the Tour of Britain.

 

A wet and foggy day in Cumbria produced fireworks on grippy roads, with a barrage of attacks leading up to the finish in Kendal.

 

Swift was one of a number of riders to jump out of the peloton in the closing stages, bridging across to the remnants of the day's breakaway which included team-mate Nicolas Roche.

 

Swift crossed the line sixth, 58 seconds behind stage winner Julien Vermote (Etixx - Quick-Step), but sits fifth overall, 1:08 back after time bonuses were applied.

 

Roche rode hard all day, making his way into a significant early move and hanging on up the brutal climb of The Struggle. A late attack on the uphill finish into Kendal fell just short, but the Irish champion now sits 10th overall at 1:16, and scooped the combativity prize on the stage.

 

"I'm happy enough with today," Roche told TeamSky.com. "We had a plan and we thought that it was important to cover the bigger moves. That was my role, as well as Yogi [Ian Stannard] and Swifty depending how big the moves were. The plan was to keep Wout [Poels] as fresh as possible for the last climb if it was kept together. Once that big move went it was important I was in there. The group was well-balanced and we rode pretty smart. There were a lot of rouleurs in there which allowed us to get the pace on the flat and control it on the climbs.

 

"Once I was up there and the gap had come down in the last 50km I figured anything could happen, so I might as well try to get a few mountains points here and there. I didn't want to go too deep but I'm second at the moment."

 

Tom Dumoulin stays in contention with good ride in Tour of Britian

At the start of the stage, a breakaway of 15 riders, including Giant-Alpecin stagiaires Jochem Hoekstra and Martijn Tusveld built up an advantage of approximately three minutes.  On the final climb of the day, the peloton split into pieces and Tom Dumoulin was part of a chasing group, 15″ behind two leaders with 10km remaining. It was a good performance by Tom Dumoulin to claim 8th place.

 

Team Giant-Alpecin’s highest ranked rider is Dumoulin in 9th position.

 

Coach Marc Reef said: “It was a very difficult stage today with a lot of climbing. From the start, a 15 strong breakaway went clear with both our stagiaires. They rode a solid race but they had to let go of the front group on the final climb.

 

“In the finale, Tom joined the leaders with 12 other riders on the last hill. Tom suffered some cramps but it was gutsy ride by him to take a top 10 finish.”

 

Trek stagiaire shows huge potential on brutal day at Tour of Britain

Trek-Segafredo stagiaire Jacopo Mosca finished in 10th place in the first general classification test in the Tour of Britain after joining the day's breakaway with teammate Marco Coledan.

 

While Coledan threw all his effort into helping the breakaway stay ahead of the chasing peloton, Mosca showed his prowess for climbing and stayed with the top riders to the finish - an incredible performance for the young Italian in a wet and tough ending to the 167-kilometer race.

 

"I told the guys that it was a good day to go into the breakaway today because we knew that Lotto would not control the race for Greipel since the climb with 28kms to go was very difficult," explained director Alain Gallopin. "It was a stage for the GC today.

 

"It was the plan to put Jacopo in the break, and while he saved energy Marco worked hard. He was able to follow the best on the climb, but in the end, against Cummings, there was nothing he could do. But he was able to stay with the group with the guys fighting for the GC, and it is a good result for him."

 

Coledan pulled like crazy to keep the 15-rider escape group ahead of the peloton ahead of the last tough ascent and finally threw in the towel on the category-one climb where the selection was made.

 

The breakaway group exploded on the steep uphill, but Mosca looked sharp as he crested the leg-sapping ascent with four others. Less than a minute later the peloton ignited, and the fireworks began, with Rohan Dennis (BMC) making the first serious move. Dennis bridged to the five leaders, while a strong 10-man chase group formed behind, containing all the heavy hitters.

 

In the final run-in, the attacks were as relentless as the ups and downs on the wet, foggy road and quickly sorted out those who had legs to follow.  Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) finally broke the elastic with Julien Vermote (Etixx-Quick Step) the only one to respond.

 

The two men built up a significant gap and on the final rise to the line, Vermote had more in the tank and accelerated to the win and overall lead.

 

The rest of the leading group arrived just under a minute later and sprinted up the short climb to the finish where Mosca held on for 10th place, a fantastic result for the young Italian against the world's best punchers.

 

"I am very, very happy with today," said Mosca. "This morning I didn't think I would be finishing 10th today, I didn't think that was even possible. We talked about me being in the break, but to finish with the big riders at the end is incredible. I am still here to help Giacomo (Nizzolo) with the sprints, and then we can see about the GC after that."

 

"We came here with a sprinter team to do everything for Giacomo, and not for the GC, and now we have one guy for the GC," added Gallopin. "I hope we can keep this top 10 until the end, it would be good for him.  I saw how Jacopo raced in Utah and after that, I asked to have him in the UK, too. He is a good teammate, but he can also be good in the climb, and that is what he showed today."

 

Rohan Dennis: Everybody looked at me to do the work

There was no lack of BMC Racing Team action on Tour of Britain Stage 2 as Loïc Vliegen was part of an early breakaway before Rohan Dennis launched an attack on the day’s final climb to close the gap to the breakaway before finishing just outside the top ten in Kendal.

 

Almost as soon as the race hit KM 0 a group of 15 riders, including Vliegen, attacked off the front of the peloton and quickly extended an advantage of 5 minutes 20 seconds.

 

As the breakaway headed onto the slopes of the final climb, a wheel change for Vliegen saw him slip off the back of the group before the chase from the peloton started to heat up behind them.

 

Appropriately named The Struggle, the Category One climb saw the peloton disintegrating along the road as Rohan Dennis launched a strong attack to ride solo across to the remaining breakaway riders.

 

Eventually the leading group grew to 13 riders and the attacks soon followed with Julian Vermote (Etixx - Quick Step) and Stephen Cummings (Team Dimension Data) able to distance themselves to take first and second place respectively.

 

A short and sharp climb to the line saw the chasers being forced to dig deep with Dennis crossing the line in 12th place, 1 minute 7 seconds behind the new race leader Vermote.

 

Rohan Dennis said:

 

“I could see that there were a lot of guys struggling on that final climb and I knew it was only 4 to 5km long so I thought I might as well just have a crack. I knew it was downhill a lot of the way home from the top so I just gave it everything to the top and hoped I would have a little bit left for the final.

 

“The chase wasn’t really organised in the end and I think a lot of eyes were on me to do most of the work because of what I did on the earlier climb but it was a fast rolling section and when Cummings and Vermote got away the bunch started attacking each other really.

 

“I am feeling confident and I felt good all day up until the last 10-15km which I think was obvious on that final climb to the line. I think from now I could potentially be marked a little bit so I will have to be smart with how I use my energy and keep looking for opportunities if I am still looking towards the GC and then give it everything on the time trial.”

 

Sports director Jackson Stewart added:

 

“It seems like we are seeing more and more that teams are riding aggressively from the start to put riders in the breakaway and then it is up to everyone else to control. Knowing the stage and knowing that that was likely going to happen with the sprinters’ teams leading the GC, we knew it would be a good idea for us to be in the break. Loïc was able to get in there and he did well but had a little bit of bad luck with a puncture just before the final climb.

 

“Rohan was riding really strong today and was able to bridge across to the remaining breakaway riders but when he got there I’m not sure if they didn’t want to or if it was the case that they couldn’t go at that pace knowing that he was fresh and strong. The chase was united behind the leading group as they knew it would be dangerous to have Rohan up the road and in the end when Cummings and Vermote went off the front Rohan wasn’t able to chase it alone and he lost some time today.

 

“Today had everything in there to be a real difficult day and it proved to be that way. The slick roads alone made it a difficult stage. They were narrow and twisting pretty much all day and that as well as the weather meant it was definitely not easy for anyone.”

 

Madison Genesis with cards to play at Tour of Britain

Erick Rowsell finished 16th on the day and rose to 16th on general classification on stage two of the Tour of Britain, as the race produced the promised fireworks and large time gaps emerged.

 

Rowsell was the first finisher for Madison Genesis, crossing the line four minutes 33 seconds down on stage winner Julien Vermote (Etixx-Quickstep). Tom Stewart followed 16 seconds later in 29th and Matt Holmes was a further 41 seconds adrift in 44th.

 

Rowsell’s result was confirmation that he had returned to his best, after a broken arm counted him out of last year’s edition of the Tour of Britain, and broken ribs sustained at the An Post Ras took him out of action midway through 2016.

 

Early work by by Matt Cronshaw and Taylor Gunman bringing food from the car, and Alex Blain who worked on the front of the peloton, set Rowsell, Stewart and Holmes up for the decisive moment of the race which would come after 155-kilomtres on the road from Carlisle to Kendal, as the peloton hit the first category climb of The Struggle.

 

Difficult day for ONE at Tour of Britain

ONE’s Pete Williams lined up on the start line as the leader of the Skoda UK King of the Mountains Classification and the team were aiming to defend the title for another day. As the flag dropped ONE Pro Cycling were looking once again to be active in the breakaway of the day with Kristian House, Hayden McCormick and Pete Williams all looking to rotate to find the early move.

 

It took until kilometre 20 before a move was forced at the front of the race, unfortunately there was no ONE Pro Cycling representative within the 15 man group that had escaped. Once the numbers had been announced on race radio the team took the decision to go to the front of the peloton and begin chasing. With a lot of teams represented at the front all eyes were on ONE Pro Cycling and Movistar to try to ride the group at the front down. With a maximum advantage of 5 minutes Kristian House and Hayden McCormick rode all day on the front of the peloton reducing the gap to 1 minute 30 seconds by the time the race hit Whinlatter Pass.

 

As the race began to split over the back part of the race the gap to the peloton held at around the 1 minute 30 mark. After 150km of racing the peloton eased up, at this point Karol Domagalski saw an opportunity and attacked out of the peloton. Adam Blythe of the GB national team going with him. The pair worked well together to try and bridge across the gap. Shortly afterwards Dimension Data took up the chase at the front of the peloton to set their GC man up on the final climb of the day and after around 6km rode Domagalski back.

 

Up the Struggle and the fog had set in at the top, the race blew to pieces with 2 riders going clear chased by a group of 12 riders, Dion Smith was in what was left of the peloton with Domagalski in a small group just behind. Dion Smith crossed the line 19th just over four minutes behind and now sits 18th on general classification.

 

Orica-BikeExchange turn attention to sprints at the Tour of Britian

Stage two of the Tour of Britain saw challenging steep climbs in the final 30kilometres split the peloton drastically causing a big shake up in the overall classification.

 

Julien Vermote (Etixx-Quickstep) claimed the stage victory on a brutal finishing climb in Kendal with Amets Txurruka the highest place finisher for ORICA-BikeExchangein 20th place on the rain sodden stage.

 

An initial breakaway of 15 riders were eventually swallowed up on the final King of the Mountain climb with all ORICA-BikeExchange riders back in the next main peloton. 

 

Sport director Matt Wilson was content with the day considering the Australian outfit arrived at the tour with the aim of sprint victories and a team comprising of mostly young riders. 

 

“It was a really hard day “ said Wilson. “We didn’t have a stage favourite for today or any guys going for the general classification. We gave a bit of freedom to Rob Power and Amets Txurruka if they wanted to try something on the climbs.

 

“Throughout the stage Caleb Ewan and Luka Mezgec looked after themselves just in case it did end up as a group sprint but the way it played out it became a really hard stage with the large breakaway from the start and the final climb. 

 

“It isn’t disappointing for us as it wasn’t a stage we were targeting. Everyone got through ok and we live to fight another day.” 

 

Movistar turn attention to stage wins after bad day at Tour of Britain

Movistar Team suffered in the rain and on the endless rolling hills on the second day of the Tour of Britain, 188 km between Carlisle and Kendal.  Jorge Arcas and Giovanni Visconti were initially left out of the good break of the day, because of a puncture for the Italian when he tried to join the 15 riders in front.  The subsequent tremendous effort of Dowsett, Arcas, Moreno and Gorka Izaguirre did not allow Visconti to get back in contention.

 

The Italian finished 25th at 4.33 and tomorrow he and his teammates will turn their attention to stage wins. Juanjo Lobato will find his chance on Tuesday in the third stage.

 

Difficult day for Caja Rural at the Tour of Britain

On stage 2 of Tour of Britain, Héctor Sáez represented Caja Rural - Seguros RGA in a 15-riders big breakaway, from which Julien Vermote (Etixx - Quick Step) attacked on the final kilometers to take both the stage win and the leader’s jersey.

Miguel Ángel Benito finished as the team’s best-placed rider in 31st place, just a few seconds ahead of his teammates Domingos Gonçalves and Sáez. Tomorrow, the British race continues with an undulating stage from Congleton to Tatton Park, Knutsford.

 

Strong Bert-Jan Lindeman on the attack in Tour of Britain

LottoNL-Jumbo tried an attack with Bert-Jan-Lindeman, but Tom Leezer led the team home with 34th in the Tour of Britain stage two today. Belgian Julian Vermote (Etixx – Quickstep) won, edging out Steve Cummings (Team Dimension Data) at the top the steep final climb, and took the overall lead.

 

From the gun in Carlisle, attacks rained down. After a few kilometres, 15 men were free with Tom Leezer and Bert-Jan Lindeman. They gained up to five minutes when they hit the hills of the Lake District. 

 

"It was a very difficult stage with a lot of twisting and turning roads, and climbs," said Lindeman. "I felt strong and forced it on a difficult climb 30 kilometres from the finish. I managed to break away with four other riders. The favourites were closing on us. With 15 kilometres to go, I got cramps and unfortunately, I had no chance when fresh strong riders closed the gap to us."

 

Movistar Team and One Pro Cycling closed the gap and forced a change in plans.

"We wanted to go well because we saw opportunities today," explained Sports Director Merijn Zeeman. ”It all looked very favourable, but then Movistar started to chase. The gap was just one and a half minutes at one point, and you know that the favourites are going to attack and everything changes. They swallowed up the breakaway. Paul Martens punctured at that time and could not go with them so we lost our grip on the race."

 

Dylan Groenewegen, who crashed yesterday, survived to the finish with a group at 13 minutes behind and explained that he feels better. A stage of almost 180 kilometres with the three climbs is on the program tomorrow. Lindeman added, "I'm very satisfied with my condition and will try to make the break again.”