Cees Bol of Team DSM won stage 2 of the Tour of Britain by a miniscule margin amid a chaotic sprint into Duns, narrowly beating Jake Stewart into second place, with Corbin Strong taking third place.
Jake Stewart opened the sprint in the final 400m, having had the final kilometre tightly controlled by Team DSM, but Stewart was followed and subsequently caught by Bol who won the final with a marginally stronger bike throw for the line.
It followed an exciting run-in to the line in Scotland, where Davide Gabburo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) made an early attack with 13km remaining.
Gabburo reached the 6km category-3 climb of Harden’s Hill ahead of the group, stretching out 25 seconds into the final 10km. It was a brave effort, but after a considerable effort from Richie Porte (Ineos Grenadiers) into the day’s harsh headwinds, Gabburo was caught metres short of the summit of the stage’s final climb.
Nils Politt subsequently attacked with 5.4km remaining, over the summit of the climb toward Duns. He was quickly pulled back by an anxious peloton, and a counterattack came in quick succession from Dylan Teuns who led into the descent from Harden’s Hill.
His attack was pulled back by a strong effort from Magnus Sheffield, which brought the main field together to begin the lead-out efforts into Duns.
It came after the peloton pulled in a six-man breakaway containing Harry and Charlie Tanfield, and Matthew Teggart earlier in the stage.
How it unfolded
The second stage of the Tour of Britain would see the peloton race around the Scottish Border region, taking in three late climbs on the way to the finish in the town of Duns. Following a flat and rolling opening 140km of the 175km stage, three third-category climbs would be packed into the closing kilometres of the day, providing potential launchpads for any attackers.
The day’s breakaway went away early on the stage, with Ribble Weldtite brothers Harry and Charlie Tanfield getting the move. Matthew Teggart (Wiv SunGod), Adam Lewis (Saint Piran), Ukko Peltonen (Global 6), and Travis Stedman (Qhubeka) completed the move, which was made up of Continental team riders.
After a day in the breakaway on stage 1, Teggart was out front again to target the intermediate sprint points having taken the maximum of nine on Sunday. The white jersey wearer went for it again at the first sprint of stage 2, 42.5km into the stage.
The group, who realistically had little…
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