Tour of Britain 2013: Stage 2

Hello and welcome to our live coverage from the Tour of Britain.

Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage from stage 2 of the Tour of Britain. A 225km stage from Carlisle to Kendal

77km remaining from 225km

We'll bring you right up to date and we have a group already up the road, with a lead of 2.20.

Sky are currently leading the field for Bradley Wiggins. Six riders are up the road.

It's another difficult day in the saddle for everyone though, and the rain is once again coming down hard.

Very twisty country roads, with no time to relax.

We've already had a number of crashes and Visconti is out of the race with a suspected broken leg. We'll bring you more on that once we have it.

With the time bonuses from yesterday,  here's where we stand in the overall.

1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 6:04:33
2 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:04
3 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) MTN-Qhubeka 0:00:06
4 Aaron Gate (NZl) An Post-Chainreaction
5 Christophe Laborie (Fra) Sojasun
6 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Sojasun 0:00:07
7 Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin-Sharp 0:00:08
8 Peter Hawkins (Irl) Team IG-Sigma Sport
9 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:00:09

At the start of yesterday's stage in Scotland we spoke to Bradley Wiggins about his hopes for the Tour of Britain. You can watch the video, right here.

The riders in the break are: Northey (NGR), Delaplace (SOJ), Madrazo (MOV), Cornshaw (IGS) , Dibben(GBR) and Downey (SKT)

Delaplace was on the attack yesterday and will be looking to pick up vital points in the KOM competition.

The leaders are on perfect roads to help push out their lead. The surface is wet, they're climbing and it's tougher for the peloton to control affairs. Eisel, right now is on the front working for Sky. If Wiggins takes the race lead tomorrow the Austrian will have to be on the front all week one would expect.

Despite the weather it's stunning scenery on stage 2. The peloton have no choice but to line out, such is the nature of the tight descent they're on.

Onto Honister Pass now for the six leaders.

Cannondale have put one token rider on the front to help Sky out.

The Sky riders have enough time to talk on the front of the peloton so the pace isn't too fast at the moment. Saying that,  there are a number of riders slipping back on the climb.

Water is streaming down the side of the road as the break lurch their way up the climb. Ian Bibby is off the back of the peloton suffering.

In the bunch Dan Martin has attacked and Sky are going to have to bring this one back.

And it's Quintana who is with the Garmin rider.

The two best climbers in the race are side by side on the climb.

Up ahead the break is splitting up and Quintana is dropping Martin.

Martin is coming back  to him.

The two climbers are back together and now Martin is setting the pace on the 25 per cent slopes.

The bunch are about 50 meters back at the moment.

Martin leads Quintana over the top and back in the bunch so many riders are in major difficulty.

The leaders are now on the descent. They'll have to balance their need to maintain their gap with not taking too many risks. It's a long, technical descent, with the road being extremely wet.

The six leaders have reformed as a group, and they're 1:12 clear of Quintana and Martin.

Martin and Quintana clearly understand that they need to work  together. They're up against it with Sky looking to shut them down, with 58km to go. There's a second cat climb still to come though.

Martin and Quintana are a minute down. Quintana's teammate in the break is on the back of that group and waiting for his team leader to make it across.

The big news this morning was over Chris Horner missing a drug text after the Vuelta. The team were quick to defend him, saying that they'd notified the authorities of his new location well in advance. You can read the story right here.

53km remaining from 225km

Martin and Quintana are at 34 seconds, the peloton at 1;10, Madrazo takes a turn though, he must be trying to slow things down within the break.

Madrazo is now aware that Quintana is on his way, after receiving word from the Movistar team car.

Onto Chesnut Hill in just a minute for the leaders.

Martin and Quintana are at 25 seconds. The break will surely wait for them.

The yellow jersey peloton is at 59 seconds and Madrazo has dropped his chain.

49km remaining from 225km

Martin leads Quintana to the very front of the group. Martin has matured as a rider so much in the last 12 months. He's followed by Martin on the climb and really the break are going to just try and hang on.

It's now Martin, Madrazo and Quintana at the front of the race with 49km to go.

Martin is taking the race to Sky here. He could have waited for the major summit finish later in the week but he and Quintana are clearly here for more than just training for the Worlds.

The trio will have a slight tailwind as they crest the top. Madrazo is tired but he'll be handy on the flat sections between now and the finish.

The leading trio have already put 30 seconds into the chasing break.

Onto the descent and it's Quintana who leads Martin with Madrazo on his wheel.

One rider who is benefiting from all this is Alex Dowsett. He can simply sit on Bradley Wiggins' wheel and watch as the Sky team work to bring back the Movistar/Martin group.

The trio on the front have 55 seconds on the peloton with 44km still to go. Sky are going to be stretched here, and they'll need help from a few other teams.

The leaders are now on a long flat section and this isn't going to help their cause one bit. Quintana takes a long pull on the front, Martin on his wheel but the gap isn't getting any bigger.

Madrazo has a look back to see if anyone is coming across. It looks as though the remnants of the break could make contact here.

Martin is still pushing on but it looks like Sky have this under control. The gap is at 13 seconds with Eisel still on the front, with Hayman on his wheel.

38km remaining from 225km

38km to go as Quintana takes one long final turn. They're making Sky work for this, they're not giving up despite the gap at 10 seconds.

The final 500 metres are up hill, so we could see a change in yellow today. Viviani is in the main field though.

Madrazo has sat up and Quintana and Martin look to be doing the same.

Cavendish is still in the main field too. Dowsett his training parter is also in there. Modolo is also the peloton, Bauer we can see, Hayman. And now Movistar send another rider up the road.

Enrique Sanz is the man Movistar have sent up the road with 35km to go. The Spanish team are really taking this race by the scruff of the neck, despite losing Visconti in a crash earlier in the stage.

The Spaniard quickly opens up a 15 second lead. Cannondale absent from the front and Eisel keeps tempo at the head of the field.

Enrique Sanz has pushed his lead out to 26 seconds with 26.4km to go.

Despite the weather the crowds have turned out in force for the riders. At the front of the peloton Hayman has taken over from Eisel. The Australian will be riding for Orica next season.

Netapp have moved up to the front of the peloton as well. They'll be looking to launch riders up the road as Enrique Sanz moves out to 29 seconds.

21km remaining from 225km

21km to go and it's all over for Enrique Sanz.

Garmin now send  Rathe up the road. The American team are taking it in turns with Movistar.

Rathe has 11 seconds but he has to take the corners with some caution.

Sky pile their riders to the front, Wiggins looks to be there. Rathe is still off the front, it looks like a Netapp rider is trying to chase him down though.

Wiggins has changed bikes but he's right at the front as two more riders try and attack.

Rathe is on his own and climbing with 17 seconds on the main field.

It's going to come back together though and Rathe has been caught.

Pirazzi is the only rider clear of the field at the moment and Stannard moves up and sets the pace at the front of the peloton.

12km remaining from 225km

12km to go and Pirazzi only has about 40 metres on the peloton.

Will Wiggins risk an early attack?

Sky pull the race all back together with 12km to go.

Mark Cavendish has attacked.

More than just a sprinter, he's jumped out from the field with 10km to go. The sprint isn't suited to him and Sky are Movistar are working to shut this one down.

Job done but former teammate Thomas Lovkvist has attacked.

This could be a telling attack from the Swede.

Sky cant let him establish a gap, as he's a dangerous allrounder who can compete with Wiggins over races like the Tour of Britain.

He has a gap of around 80 meters.

8km remaining from 225km

8km to go and the I AM Cycling rider has 7 seconds already.

Lovkist is over a minute down on GC in fact, so Sky may not be that threatened by this move.

There's a reaction from the field and it's starting to split up.

Lövkvist has 12 seconds with 6.5km to go as he moves out of the saddle on one of the final shallow rises before the final climb.

There are five chasers though. A rider from Movistar, Sky and Omega are there.

Lövkvist has 21 seconds on the yellow jersey group.

The bunch is all back together having caught that counter attack but Lövkvist is still out on the attack with 5km to go.

He's really starting to struggle though as the gradient rises once more.

He lead is down to 12 seconds.

3.8km to go and the gap is holding at 11 seconds.

Sky continue to lift the pace as Lövkvist reaches a long flat section. This might actually help his style of riding.

2.9km to go now.

The gap is 10 seconds and it's Stannard who his riding him down.

2.5km to go and the gap is still 10 seconds.

2km and the gap is still 10 seconds.

Downhill section for Lövkvist

1.3 to go. It's going to be so close.

1km to go. the lead still at 10 second.

He's onto the climb to the finish.

In the saddle he pushes that gear. He can see the line.

He' struggling though.

Caught with 200 to  go.

Ciolek is in second wheel

Ciolek takes the win.

Lövkvist was about 300 meters from glory. It looked like a Post rider who made it across first, but Ciolek was there too and the German was simply too strong and takes stage 2 of the Tour of Britain.

It looks like Viviani wasn't with the main field so Ciolek could have the race lead as well.

It was Sam Bennett who took second, Lövkvist hung on for third but Ciolek will take the leader's jersey.

1 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) MTN-Qhubeka 5:01:01
2 Sam Bennett (Irl) An Post-Chainreaction
3 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) IAM Cycling 0:00:06
4 Simon Yates (GBr) Great Britain
5 Michal Golas (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
6 Jack Bauer (NZl) Garmin-Sharp 0:00:09
7 Martin Elmiger (Swi) IAM Cycling
8 Marco Coledan (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
9 Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Spa) MTN-Qhubeka
10 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step

Thanks for joining us today. You can find our report, images, and results, right here.