Belkin are chasing a stage win in the Tour of Britain and after yesterday's near-miss for Maarten Wynants, they were hoping to join the break in the day's stage. Bram Tankink seemed to have made it but in the end the team was again empty-handed.

Belkin Pro Cycling TEAM's Bram Tankink and Lars Petter Nordhaug finished in the main pack as Matthias Brandle (IAM) won out a breakaway for the second day in a row at the Tour of Britain.

A day after riding to third out of a breakaway in stage 6 with Maarten Wynants, Belkin was close to placing Tankink into the main escape in the hilly 205.6km stage to Hemel Hempstead.

"Bram did a great job trying to get into the breakaway. It was all attacking in the first 50km. Bram was in a good group, but the bunch chased it down, and then the very next attack is the one that went away," said Belkin Sports Director Jan Boven. "You need to be strong to be in the breakaway, but sometimes you need a little bit of luck, as well."
 

Nordhaug and Tankink finished in the front group at 1:51 behind Brandle, while Alex Dowsett (Movistar) snatched the overall leader's jersey after sneaking into the three-man breakaway. Nordhaug leads Belkin in the GC, now 28th at 2:28 back.

"It was a really, really strong ride from the breakaway guys. The teams behind made a big mistake with the time gap. Yesterday, Maarten's group never had more than three minutes. Today, they gave them nine minutes," Boven said. "The peloton started too late to chase. It's uphill all the time with these little climbs. With only six riders on each team, there is no control in the race."
 

The 11th Tour of Britain continues Saturday with the 225.1km seventh stage to Brighton in what Boven predicts will be a big fight.

"Tomorrow is the hardest stage of the race, and the longest one. Tomorrow will be a special day. The overall leader's jersey is still not decided," Boven said. "We will try again for the breakaway. Yesterday it worked out, today it did not. It will be the same plan for tomorrow."