Tour of Britain: Viviani wins stage 2

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Elia Viviani (Team Sky) was declared the winner of stage 2 of the Tour of Britain 45 minutes after a hotly contested sprint in Blyth, with race judges finally deciding to relegate Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) for cutting across the road ahead of the Italian in sight of the finish line.

The Norwegian started his sprint down the middle of the road but changed his line, failing to allow Viviani enough space along the barriers. The Italian protested after crossing the line in second place.

Judges have been forced to rule on several controversial sprints this season, and as in the Tour de France when they kick Peter Sagan out of the race, they carefully watched the television replay of the sprint and eventually decided that Boasson Hagen's move had been excessive.

Viviani was declared the winner with Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) moving up to second and Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) into third.

“Owain put me on Boasson Hagen's wheel in the final which was perfect and what we talked about this morning in our meeting, to be in second or third place going into the sprint," Viviani said after he was declared the winner. "We have a really strong leadout, Tao is the youngest, but he is one of the best talents in British cycling and he has done two days on the front for me.

Thanks to the 10-second time bonus, Viviani also took the overall race lead and so will wear the green jersey during Tuesday's 178km third stage is from Normanby Hall Country Park to Scunthorpe.

A long day out before a controversial finish

The riders faced a long day in the saddle on stage 2, with an 8.7km neutralised sector coming before 211.7km in the rolling roads of the Northeast of England from Kielder Water Forest Park to Blyth on the coast in the longest stage of the race.

The sprinters and their teams were ready to control the racing but the lesser-known British teams were keen to be in the spotlight of the full live television coverage.

A seven-rider break away jumped clear when the flag dropped and formed the move of the day. In there were Lukasz Owsian (CCC Sprandi) defending the climber's competition leader's jersey, plus Rory Townsend (Bike Channel-Canyon), Graham Briggs (JLT Condor), Matt Holmes (Madison Genesis), Kamil Gradek (One Pro Cycling), Jacob Scott (An Post ChainReaction) and Silvan Dillier (BMC). Briggs, Scott, and Owsian had all been in the break on stage 1.

The seven in the break fought for each sprint and climb during the stage either hunting a jersey or defending that of a teammate in the peloton. Graham Briggs (JLT Condor) was especially active in both competitions. He did enough to equal the points total of Karol Domagalski (One Pro Cycling) but the Polish rider kept hold of the jersey on the tie breaker. Jacob Scott (An Post) drew level on points with Owsian at the top of climber's competition standings but Owsian kept the jersey after a count-back.

The seven perhaps also fancied their chances of fighting for the stage victory. However Team Sky, Orica-Scott and Dimension Data never let them gain more than five minutes and gradually reeled them, with young riders Rob Power (Orica Scott) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky) doing long stints on the front of the peloton.

After several desperate attacks from the breakaway, Holmes attacked alone and it proved to be the start of a rapid downfall, with the gap quickly falling below a minute. Soon after the rest of the break was swept up and so was Holmes after holding on to take the final sprint in Seaton Sluice with 16km to go.

The sprint trains then took over, with Tony Martin doing huge turns for Kristoff and Vasil Kiryienka using his power for Team Sky and Viviani. Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) tried a solo attack with 8.5km, perhaps testing his form and stating his case in the Belgian team selected today for the world road race championships in Norway.

Geraint Thomas helped close the gap on the Belgian for Team Sky with five kilometres to go and the British team stayed on the front. It left them with just a rider to help Viviani in the final kilometre but he was well placed when the sprint started. The Italian went along the barriers, taking the shortest line as Boasson Hagen went down the middle and then moved across.

If the Norwegian had perhaps held his line he would have won. Instead, he could only apologise for his move and accept relegation to the back of the peloton.

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