Following a solid third place finish on yesterday’s opening leg, Greg Henderson leaped from third to first overall in the Tour of Britain when he won today’s stage to Stoke on Trent. The Team Sky rider was one of 19 riders who were clear for almost all the stage, and who opened up a staggering lead of over ten minutes on the overnight leader Andre Greipel (HTC Columbia) plus the main bunch.
Henderson beat Michael Albasini (HTC Columbia), Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo Test Team), Koen de Kort (Skil Shimano) and Patrick Sinkewitz on the uphill rise to the line. Several others came in three seconds back, while Henderson’s team-mates Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas (both Team Sky) helped him inside the final kilometres, then cracked and lost one minute 16 and one minute 48 seconds respectively.
Henderson took over in the race leader’s jersey, but is now the only Team Sky rider in contention. That means the team will concentrate its efforts on him for the remainder of the race.
"I had a fantastic team with me, they rode the front for me right the way through to the line," he said after the success. "I knew the finish from a couple of years ago so I waited and waited for as long as possible. No one had come with 300 metres to go so I just jumped as hard as I could knowing that I could open up a gap, and I just held that to the line. It’s a nice treat to be in the yellow jersey and we'll have a go at defending it.”
The break of the day went clear inside the first half-hour of racing, with 18 riders succeeding in getting a gap after a stream of constant attacks. Team Sky had the most riders present, with Geraint Thomas, Greg Henderson, and Bradley Wiggins representing the British ProTour team on home soil. Race leader Andre Greipel missed the move but his HTC Columbia team-mates Tony Martin and Michael Albasini were there, while the break was completed by Dan Craven (Rapha Condor-Sharp), Jaroslav Marycz, Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank), Christian Meier, Travis Meyer (Garmin-Transitions), Robert Partridge (Endura Racing), Federico Canuti, Alberto Contoli (Colnago-CSF Inox), Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo Test Team), Koen de Kort (Skil-Shimano), Borut Bozic, Michael Golas (Vacansoleil) and Patrick Sinkewitz (ISD-Neri).
Henderson beat Golas and Bozic to win the intermediate sprint in Stone (km 22.5). Shortly afterwards, the lead group dropped to 17 when Marycz lost contact, but the number went up to 19 after Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) and Darren Lapthorne (Rapha Condor Sharp) bridged across. At that point the peloton was a minute back, but soon cracked and allowed the gap to jump to three minutes 45 seconds 50 kilometres after the start.
Hoogerland took the prime on the second category climb of Ramshorn (km 64.2), edging out Craven and Porte. He then took top points ahead of Porte and Meier on the first cat Edgetop/Hollingslough Moor, where the gap was almost eight minutes. However Porte underlined his ability when he rocketed away on the identically-ranked Gun Hill, holding a 15 second lead at the summit over prime runner-up Hoogerland, Sinkewitz, Wiggins, Albasini, de Kort, Craven and Meyer.
Once down the descent, the break started to come back together and Porte was caught just after he won the intermediate sprint in Leek (km 114.9). Sinkewitz then jumped away and stayed clear for several kilometres, but was ultimately brought back.
The climbs and attacking were putting pressure on riders who were weakening. Surprisingly, those who dropped back included Tony Martin, who would otherwise have been thought to have been a GC contender. He’d lose over eleven minutes by the finish.
In contrast, those with good legs ramped up the battle inside the final half hour of racing. After the break scaled a very steep but uncategorized climb, Haussler and Golas took their chance and surged away. They had a lead of 13 seconds with ten kilometres remaining, where Golas pipped the Australian at the intermediate sprint in Wedgwood, yet were caught soon afterwards.
The leading group was being pared down on the run-in to the line, with several short ramps sapping the legs of anyone who was feeling the distance. Wiggins and Thomas were amongst those who surprisingly lost out, having put their efforts into setting Henderson up for the win. That team work paid off for Team Sky when the New Zealand rider sprinted in ahead of Albasini, Haussler, de Kort and Sinkewitz; once the various bonuses were worked out, he ensured another big prize for the team when he finished up 14 seconds ahead of Albasini and Haussler in the general classification.
That’s a handy advantage heading into tomorrow’s 149.7 kilometre race from Newtown to Swansea, but with the first category climbs of Black Mountain and Constitution Hill coming inside the final 50 kilometres of racing, nothing is certain.
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Tour of Britain (2.1)
Stage 2 Result
1, Greg Henderson (Team Sky) 3 hours 59 mins 52 secs
2, Michael Albasini (Team HTC – Columbia)
3, Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo Test Team)
4, Koen De Kort (Skil – Shimano)
5, Patrick Sinkewitz (ISD - Neri Giambenini)
Honda Combativity Award: Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling)
General Classification (after two stages)
1, Greg Henderson (Team Sky) 7 hours 16 mins 23 secs
2, Michael Albasini (Team HTC – Columbia) at 14 secs
3, Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo Test Team)
4, Richie Porte (Team Saxo Bank)
5, Koen De Kort (Skil – Shimano) all same time
The Prostate Cancer Charity Points Jersey: Greg Henderson, Team Sky
The King of the Mountains Jersey: Richie Porte, Team Saxo Bank
The Sprints Jersey: Richie Porte, Team Saxo Bank