Team Sky put themselves in a great position in the queen stage of the Bayern Rundfahrt as Geraint Thomas and Vasil Kiryienka both climbed to top 10 finishes. With both being excellent time trialists, they stand a good chance in the battle for the overall win.

Geraint Thomas and Vasil Kiryienka both claimed top-10 finishes on a mountainous second stage of Bayern Rundfahrt.

Team Sky were prominent once again on the toughest day of the race and the pace they set helped bring a breakaway back and ensure only 40-or-so riders remained in contention as they began the final climb of the day.

The team were well positioned as they hit the concluding ascent but Matthias Frank sprang clear just over a kilometre from the summit and held on for a five-second victory over Thibaut Pinot (FDJ).

Thomas crossed the line 16 seconds behind in sixth position, with Kiryienka 23 seconds further adrift in ninth. Those results saw Thomas climb to fifth while Kiryienka now sits ninth in the overall standings.

Frank’s efforts saw him take over the leader’s jersey from IAM Cycling team-mate Henirich Haussler and open up an eight-second advantage over Pinot at the top of the standings with Thomas and Kiryienka 16 and 39 seconds adrift respectively.

After the stage, Sports Director Gabriel Rasch revealed that his riders had finished a man down after Joe Dombrowski suffered a crash, but was pleased with the overall performance and the situation heading into the third stage.

He said: “Everything went largely to plan today. G was our protected rider but we wanted to have Kiry and Joe up there with him, so it was a shame to lose Joe after his crash. His rain jacket got caught in his front wheel as he was taking it off and he suffered a cut over his eye when he fell.

“We don’t take chances with head injuries so we sent him to hospital to get it stitched up and he’s now doing OK.

“FDJ did most of the work for Pinot, which was perfect for us, and then we came to the front before that last climb to make sure our guys were in a good position when the fireworks started.

“Luke [Rowe] had a big role to play in that but got a flat tyre a few kilometres before the start which meant Christian [Knees] and Pete [Kennaugh] then had to do huge turns. G and Kiry then climbed well and they’re both in good positions now.

“We’re not expecting much to change tomorrow, even though it’s a long day at 233km long. That said, we have to stay alert, and if it’s clear G and Kiry aren’t going to lose any time we’ll let Luke have another go in the sprint.”