Tour of Britain: Robin Carpenter wins stage 2 in Exeter

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Robin Carpenter (Rally Cycling) soloed to a memorable breakaway victory on stage 2 of the Tour of Britain in Exeter, taking the leader's blue jersey in the process, as he finished 33 seconds ahead of Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) and Alex Peters (SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling), who led the peloton home.

The American had made the five-man break of the day in the early kilometres of the stage and proved the strongest man of the group as his companions faded one by one during the final third of the 183.9-kilometre stage.

He and his final remaining breakaway companion, the mountain and sprint classification leader Jacob Scott (Canyon dhb SunGod), were the last remaining out front at 24 kilometres from the line as the peloton were four minutes down. Carpenter made the decisive move at that point, dispatching Scott and going for glory.

Despite the best efforts of Qhubeka NextHash and Jumbo-Visma chasing behind him, the WorldTour teams had left it too late to make a catch, leaving Carpenter to enjoy his first win in four years and the race lead to go with it.

"I've been wanting a win in Europe for a number of years now and I've come really close so it feels amazing," Carpenter said after the stage. 

"We've had a lot of success in the last few weeks, and this just builds on it. The leader's jersey is definitely something I didn't expect but I'm very, very excited.

"We still had five minutes at 40 kilometres to go so I knew I just had to get rid of everyone else and not worry about babying anyone else to the line or having to worry about anyone outsprinting me. I've been outsprinted before on finishes like this.

Carpenter will wear the blue leader’s jersey during Tuesday’s 18.2km team time trial around Carmarthenshire in south Wales.

"I'll just be trying to not get dropped by my team tomorrow. I had to go really, really deep today,” he said of his overall ambitions. 

“I really wanted the stage win and the leader's jersey is a big plus. I'll try to defend it as best I can but I'm not really a climber – you'll see that on stage 4. I'm just really thankful for this opportunity."

Having taken nine bonus seconds during the stage and 10 more at the finish, Carpenter now holds the race lead by 22 seconds ahead of stage 1 winner Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) going into the team time trial, while Hayter lies third at 26 seconds.

Scott picked up 18 mountain points to extend his green jersey lead, while he also remains in the red sprint jersey despite finishing second to Carpenter at the three intermediate sprints. Lastly, Hayter moves into the light blue points jersey.

How it unfolded

The second stage of the Tour of Britain took the riders further east through southern south-west England as they tackled a 183.9-kilometre hilly stage from Sherford to Exeter. Three second-category climbs were dotted throughout the route, with the second half of the stage tougher than the first.

The climb of Strete at 54.2 kilometres came during an up-and-down first part of the stage and was followed up in quick succession by two intermediate sprints at Slapton Sands and Kingsbridge. More unclassified hills followed mid-stage, before a third sprint at Tavistock, 121.6 kilometres into the day.

The climbs of Rundlestone (6.8km at 4 percent) and Warren House Inn (4.6km at 2.4 per cent) lay after 132.3 and 147.8 kilometres, before two more unclassified hills lay inside the final 30 kilometres before the finish in Exeter.

Attacks flew from the start of the stage, including an attempt from KOM and sprint leader Jacob Scott (Canyon dhb SunGod), who successfully infiltrated the break of the day early in the day.

He was joined out front by Nícolas Sessler (Global 6 Cycling), Robin Carpenter (Rally Cycling), Leon Mazzone (Saint Piran), and the oldest man in the race – 42-year-old C5 para-cyclist William Bjergfelt (SwiftCarbon).

The quintet quickly built a gap of several minutes out front as Jumbo-Visma took to the front of the peloton to control the race for leader Wout van Aert. By the time the leaders hit the first climb of the day at Strete, they were 3:30 up the road, with Scott taking the maximum six points over the top to move to a seven-point lead at 15 points in the KOM green jersey rankings.

Back in the peloton, meanwhile, Qhubeka NextHash had taken up the pacemaking, shaving two minutes off the lead by the time the break hit the first of the day's intermediate sprints after 60 kilometres. Carpenter beat Scott at both sprints as the gap went back up with Jumbo-Visma taking to the front of the peloton again.

The situation remained the same as the riders worked their way through the middle of the stage, with the Dutch squad allowing the gap to reach over 7:30 as the riders hit the final 70 kilometres. Carpenter, as the best-placed man in the break at 30 seconds down, was at that point in the virtual race lead by a wide margin.

The Philadelphian took his points total – and bonus-second total – to nine at the final intermediate sprint of the day with 62 kilometres to go, once again beating Scott, who would hang on to the red sprint jersey for another day.

Seven minutes further back, Movistar had joined Jumbo-Visma at the front of the peloton, slowly chipping away at the break's advantage. Up front, the break split up on the Rundlestone climb, with Mazzone and Bjergfelt dropping away.

The remaining trio pushed on through the Dartmoor National Park as the peloton upped the pace and closed in to within six minutes, with a number of sprinters dropping back as a result. Scott took the points over the top to extend his KOM lead, and duly did the same on Warren House Hill as Alpecin-Fenix did the work 4:40 back.

Meanwhile, Bjergfelt had dropped back to the peloton at 37 kilometres to go after an impressive battling ride. Up front, Sessler was the next to drop after suffering a mechanical shortly after the climb.

The breakaway was a twosome with 30 kilometres to race, and six kilometres later, it was one versus one as Carpenter took off, seeking the stage victory as well as the near certainty of the leader's jersey.

The two unclassified climbs on the run towards Exeter, plus Qhubeka NextHash giving their help at the front, proved little obstacle for Carpenter as he pushed on alone, taking a three-minute advantage into the final 10 kilometres.

With the hills behind him and a largely flat run to the line ahead, Carpenter still enjoyed a lead of 2:20 entering the final five kilometres. His advantage fell to less than a minute as he hit the final kilometre, and he kept pushing all the way to the line, allowing himself to celebrate as he crossed the line after a huge effort to secure victory.