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Tour of Britain 2018: Stage 2

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 Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 2 of the 2018 Tour of Britain. It might only be the second day but already we're looking at one of the toughest days of the race, with three categorised climbs and several more besides. Race leader André Greipel will have some job on his hands if he wants to keep his green jersey tomorrow.

Today's stage runs through Devon in the south-west of England, 174.9km from Cranbrook to Barnstaple. There's climbing from the very start – before the official start, even. 

 

 

Today's stage should be the first showdown between the GC contenders, with Quick Step Floors looking ominously strong on yesterday's final climb.

 

André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) triumphed on stage 1 in Wales yesterday. The German bested Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) and Fernando Gaviria (Quick Step Floors) in the sprint finish in Newport after a hectic run-in that saw the Quick Step duo of Julian Alaphilippe and Bob Jungels go on the attack.

 

The race figures to be one of Greipel's final outings for Lotto-Soudal, the team he's been with for seven years. Next year he's off to French ProConti team Fortuneo-Samsic, in one of the more surprising transfer moves of the year.

 

 

Here's the general classification going into the stage. It's likely to be all change today, considering the day's route.

 

1. André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) 4:00:44

5. Jürgen Roelandts (BMC)

 

 

And we're off! There's a 7.4km neutralised section to start with. The first climb of the day – Chineway Hill comes after just 6.7km of the stage proper. It's a second category climb, measuring 2.8km at an average of 5.5%.

 

 

 

There's been a crash in the neutralised zone. Miles Scotson (BMC) and Neilson Powless (LottoNL-Jumbo) are involved in a touch of wheels along with a Great Britain rider. The start proper has been held up slightly while the trio get back up and running.

 

The peloton have now been stopped altogether as we wait for the crash victims to rejoin them.

 

174km remaining from 174km

 

British Continental teams One Pro Cycling, JLT-Condor and Canyon-Eisberg are prominent at the front of the peloton, no doubt looking to make the break of the day.

 

Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin) has gone off the front on the climb. He's riding with his arms draped over bars, powering away with a JLT-Condor rider on his wheel.

 

169km remaining from 174km

Martin is still up front, but a number of riders have made their way to his wheel, meaning he's pretty much just leading the peloton for now.

 

Jonathan McEvoy (Madison-Genesis) is now off the front. Several riders have gone with him as they near the top of the climb.

 

It looks like that group will be let go by the peloton – they have a decent gap now.

 

Scott Davies (Dimension Data) is one of the men out front. He's pushing on alone and gets 8 points over the top – clearly he's protecting teammate Nic Dlamini's KOM jersey.

 

7km remaining from 174km

 

166km remaining from 174km

No confirmation yet on who took the remainder of the KOM points on Chineway Hill either.

 

163km remaining from 174km

 

Here's confirmation of the top five to take KOM points at Chineway Hill:

 

4. Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Énergie), 5pts

 

159km remaining from 174km

 

The peloton seems to have calmed down now. It looks like the five men out front will be our break of the day.

 

155km remaining from 174km

 

The riders are climbing again. Check the profile for that unclassified climb early on – that's where we are now. It may not be classified but it looks just as tough as the second category climb that started the day.

 

Quick Step Floors DS Brian Holm has been speaking on the phone to British channel ITV4. The Dane talked about the finish of stage 1 before going on to praise Julian Alaphilippe, who attacked along with Bob Jungels on the late climb.

 

It was really a masterplan. Normally we'd go for only Fernando and I think that we all thought the last climb would be much harder. We'll try again today.

 

Winning that polka dot jersey in the Tour de France was special. Alaphilippe is one in a million. He didn't take long to get back to shape after the Tour and now already he is attacking. He's very special.

 

 

Four of the riders in today's break finished in the peloton yesterday and are 10 seconds down on race leader Greipel. Rowsell, meanwhile, lies 116th overall at 4:57.

 

Regardless, it's unlikely that this group will stay away on such a tough stage, so we're probably not looking at a new race leader in the break.

 

146km remaining from 174km

 

Unsurprisingly, Lotto-Soudal are taking the lead at the front of the peloton. They're obliged to do so with their man André Greipel in the green leader's jersey.

 

143km remaining from 174km

We're 20km from the first intermediate sprint of the day in Tiverton. It's mostly downhill to that point, before the run of unclassified hills begins.

 

135km remaining from 174km

Here's a look at the breakaway, or at least three-fifths of it. Scott Davies (Dimension Data) made the move having attacked and been caught right at the start of today's stage.

 

 

Cameron Meyer is the most accomplished man in the break. The Mitchelton-Scott man is a 13-time world track champion, won the Tour Down Under in 2011 and also has two stage wins at the Tour de Suisse under his belt, in 2013 and 2014. Earlier this year he became points race world champion at the World Track Championships in Apeldoorn.

 

 

125km remaining from 174km

 

There's 1km to the first intermediate sprint of the day. Meyer leads the break into Tiverton.

 

123km remaining from 174km

 

That'll be a 3 second bonus for Teggart then. It won't make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but if he can win the next two sprints as well then he'll be in red tonight.

 

119km remaining from 174km

We're on the lumpy mid-section of the stage and break are climbing again. They're 12km from the next intermediate sprint.

 

112km remaining from 174km

The race situation is pretty stable at the moment. Five men up front, five minutes back to the breakaway. Simply put, there's not a whole lot going on right now.

 

 

The sprint is in a hamlet named Nomansland. Apparently only 150 people live there, so the local population will almost double when the peloton rolls through.

 

107km remaining from 174km

 

There are spots of rain on the camera. The riders will be hoping that isn't a prelude to a cloudburst. 

 

Scott Davies took third in the intermediate sprint. Teggart is virtual second in the intermediate sprint classification at the moment. It looks like he'll be in red after the stage.

 

 

100km remaining from 174km

It won't be long until we see a historic moment for the Tour of Britain as the riders will race through a building for the first time! At 88km to go the break will reach the South Molton Pannier Market, so that's something. It seems like somebody in South Molton will be happy to see Tonelli in the break, anyway.

 

 

The rain is properly falling now, and you'd think that the riders will be keen to reach the South Molton Pannier Market as quickly as possible.

 

95km remaining from 174km

 

There's a tv ad break at the moment. Hopefully we'll be back in time to see the South Molton Pannier Market.

 

87km remaining from 174km

 

I can't see their faces but I can only assume they're thrilled.

 

 

81km remaining from 174km

 

 

5km to go until the break reaches the final intermediate sprint of the day. Can Matthew Teggart seal the lead in that classification and take red? We'll soon find out.

 

72km remaining from 174km

The third intermediate sprint of the day at Landkey is won by Teggart, predictably. The Team WIGGINS riders led from the front and cruised across the line uncontested. With nine points from the day he'll be wearing the red jersey tomorrow.

 

70km remaining from 174km

We've just passed Swimbridge, home of the Jack Russell, and there's now 8km until the start of the second categorised climb of day. It's a second category climb to Bratton Fleming, averaging 5% for its 4.9km.

 

 

Here's a more detailed look at the final 60km of today's stage via Lasterketa Burua. You can see just how steep the day's final categorised climb of Challacombe Hill is, hitting gradients of 16-19% in the latter half of its 1.3km.

 

 

Some transfer news as Iljo Keisse takes to the front of the peloton once again after his huge ride yesterday.

 

Bora-Hansgrohe have just announced the signings of Jean-Pierre 'Jempy' Drucker from BMC and Oscar Gatto from Astana. The pair should be valuable members of their classics team next year. 

 

59km remaining from 174km

 

As the break approach the top of the Bratton Fleming climb, we expect Davies to put in a dig and try for the points. He took eight on the first climb of the day all the way back at the start of the stage. If he were to do so then he'd take over the lead in the KOM classification with 16 points.

 

And there we go – Davies has shot off the front. The Brit eased away from his breakmates and looks set to take maximum points at the top of the climb.

 

A solo break with 57km to go seems pretty suicidal at this point, so he'll no doubt wait for the four men to catch up.

 

Matthew Teggart is the only man missing as the break regroups with Davies. Having won each intermediate sprint today, he can consider it a job well done whether he rejoins the break or just drops back to the peloton.

 

55km remaining from 174km

As the peloton go over the top of the climb, it doesn't look like there has been much damage done. There's still an unclassified climb as well as the steep Challacombe Hill to come, but with the top of that first category climb coming over 20km from the finish, it looks like we might see another sprint finish after all.

 

Race leader André Greipel drops back to the team car, stuffing his green jersey full of bottles. Maybe he's not expecting to last in the peloton over the final hills of the day after all.

 

43km remaining from 174km

 

Matthew Teggart is keeping safe on the descent. It's twisty and technical, largely tree-covered, and the road is damp in places. Not pleasant.

 

37km remaining from 174km

 

33km remaining from 174km

Ian Stannard, Geraint Thomas, Łukasz Wiśniowski and Vasil Kiryienka lead the peloton, with Sky's protected rider Wout Poels tucked in to the paceline.

 

 

31km remaining from 174km

 

And with that surge in pace, the gap is falling away and approaching the two-minute mark.

 

Pascal Eenkhoorn (LottoNL-Jumbo) has also clipped off the front of the peloton. Carthy and Holmes are still up the road.

 

Helicopter shots show that the peloton has been thinned down to around 40-50 riders.

 

27km remaining from 174km

 

Stefan Küng (BMC) and Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) have made it across to the Gaviria group now.

 

23km remaining from 174km

 

And the break hits the final categorised climb of the day. The first cat climb of Challacombe Hill is 1.3km long with an average of 13% and maximum gradients of almost 20%

 

 

And the break hits the final categorised climb of the day. The first cat climb of Challacombe Hill is 1.3km long with an average of 13% and maximum gradients of almost 20%

 

 

Rowsell is the first to drop from the break on Challacombe Hill. 

 

22km remaining from 174km

 

Davies is leaving Meyer and Tonelli behind now, as a group of scantily-clad men run alongside the break. An even greater incentive to get to the top for the trio.

 

Scott Davies takes the points yet again. The Dimension Data man has 26 points now and will pull on the beautiful black jersey at the end of the stage.

 

Carthy is making his way through the remains of the breakaway. He is alone now though, and his favoured terrain is behind him. With 20km to run it looks tough for him to get anything done.

 

19km remaining from 174km

Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step Floors) has come from nowhere to join Carthy on the descent. He's not keen to do any work though.

 

Alaphilippe takes to the front and immediately pulls out a small gap on Carthy as they fly downhill.

 

The peloton is 1:05 behind Davies, and riders are scattered across the road in between them.

 

16km remaining from 174km

 

Greipel was dropped from the peloton on the climb, by the way. We'll see a new race leader tonight.

 

15km remaining from 174km

A five-man chase group has emerged, down the road from Alaphilippe and Carthy. No confirmation on the riders involved, though Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Bob Jungels (Quick Step Floors) seem to be there.

 

Meanwhile, Meyer and Tonelli get back to Davies up front. We don't know exactly how far they are ahead of the chase groups so it's hard to gauge their chances of making it to the finish.

 

11km remaining from 174km

The chase groups have merged, with Alaphilippe and Carthy joined by Jungels, Roglič, Patrick Bevin (BMC), Wout Poels (Team Sky), Chris Hamilton (Team Sunweb) and Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar).

 

10km remaining from 174km

 

8km remaining from 174km

 

6km remaining from 174km

 

5km remaining from 174km

 

Davies drops back from Tonelli and Meyer – he has the KOM jersey so at least he takes something away from the day.

 

4km remaining from 174km

 

3km remaining from 174km

 

1km remaining from 174km

 

Tonelli is on the front, and Meyer goes around him to open the sprint!

 

Meyer takes it! Tonelli second while the chasers come in just metres later!

 

Cameron Meyer (Mitchelton-Scott) wins stage 2 of the Tour of Britain!

 

Tonelli took second behind Meyer while it looked a dead heat between Bevin and Alaphilippe for third.

 

It's Meyer's second individual win of the season, after the Commonwealth Games ITT. He was also part of the Mitchelton-Scott team that triumphed at Hammer Stavanger.

 

Results and quotes will follow when we get them.

 

Here's the Australian crossing the line ahead of Tonelli and just metres ahead of the charging chase group.

 

 

Stage 2 top ten:

 

5. Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar).

6. Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo)

 

Tonelli takes the race lead on countback – the Italian finished three places ahead of Meyer yesterday.

 

5. Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar)

9. Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo)

 

So from the day's original breakaway, Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF) takes the green leader's jersey, Matthew Teggart (Team WIGGINS) will take the red sprints jersey, Scott Davies (Dimension Data) will be in the black KOM jersey and Cameron Meyer (Mitchelton-Scott) took the stage win and the blue points jersey.

 

Tough on the fifth man, Erick Rowsell (Madison-Genesis), that. Maybe he'll get the combativity award.

 

And a few words from the stage winner Meyer:

 

I’ve been here at the Tour of Britain six or seven years ago and I was caught inside the last kilometre. This time I was hoping there was no déjà vu. I’m very happy to hold on and take the victory.

 

The jerseys after stage 2:

 

 

Tomorrows' stage begins and ends in Bristol, with a loop through the countryside taking in more hills. There's a spiky finale, including a first category climb just 8km from the finish and then another hill en route to the oft-used finish on Clifton Down.

 

 

 

 And that's it for the live coverage of stage 2 of the Tour of Britain! See you again for more fun tomorrow.

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