Tour of Britain stage 2: Cees Bol overhauls Jake Stewart with perfect bike throw

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Cees Bol (Team DSM) clinched victory on the second stage of the Tour of Britain on Monday, passing Jake Stewart (Great Britain) with a perfectly timed lunge. The Dutchman picked up his first win of the season at Duns, with Stewart a frustrated second and race leader Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) third.

The latter won a time bonus for third place and extended his lead in the general classification. Stewart jumps nine places to take second overall, eight seconds back. He is equal in time with Omar Fraile (Ineos Grenadiers), while Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) is ten seconds behind.

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) finished seventh in the stage and remains fifth overall, 14 seconds behind.

“The team did a super good job of getting me up the hills and getting me in a good position for the sprint,” Bol said. “I just went all-in on the line.”

Cees Bol’s winning margin over Jake Stewart at @TourofBritain stage 2? A thousandth of a second. It really doesn’t get much closer than that pic.twitter.com/RQ1GhyHDiL

—Andy McGrath (@Andymcgra) September 5, 2022

More to follow soon…

How did that happen

Stage two of the Tour of Britain took riders in a northerly direction from Hawick to Duns, with a 175.2km course totaling 2,457m of elevation gain. It included three intermediate sprints and, in the last 30 kilometers, the category three climbs of Wanside Rigg (km 151.2), Mainslaughter Law (km 158.4) and Hardens hill (km 169.2).

Six riders cleared just after the flag fell, namely brothers Harry and Charlie Tanfield (Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling), sprint leader Matthew Teggart (WiV SunGod), Adam Lewis (Saint Piran), Ukko Iisakki Peltonen (Global 6 Cycling) and Travis Stedman (Team Qhubeka).

The latter was the best overall in 69th, 1:02 behind and quickly became the race leader on the road. The gap grew to over four minutes after 80 kilometers, but the peloton kept tabs on things and the pendulum swung in the second half of the stage.

Teggart had won all three intermediate sprints on day one and was on the same mission on stage two, beating Stedman in the sprints of Morebattle (km 42.6), Coldstream (km 76.2) and Reston (km 117, 8) and strengthening his hold on the white jersey.

The peloton picked up the pace, pushed by teams such as Trinity Racing and Israel Premier Tech, and with 40km to go the leaders had retained just 1:02 of their previous advantage. The break widened his lead over the next ten kilometres, increasing it by ten seconds, but the foothills before the Wanside Rigg climb broke the movement while setting off a tougher pace behind.

Teggart and Lewis advanced on these slopes but the peloton was getting closer and closer. The leaders were a handful of seconds ahead of the mainline, close enough for King of the Mountains leader Stephen Bassett (Human Powered Health) to clear the gap. He drove for the top but Teggart had enough to pass him for the top points.

They were absorbed after the first line, Richie Porte (Ineos Grenadiers) pushing the tempo. Jacob Scott (WiV SunGod) led the peloton on Mainslaughter Law, then Davide Gabburo (Bardiani-CSF Faizanè) jumped 16 km from the end. The 2022 Giro d’Italia Stage 8 runner-up had a 28-second lead in the last 9 kilometers, only to be brought back by a main peloton led by Porte just before the summit.

Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) then started without fail 5 km from the finish. He was caught just over 2km from the end, with Team DSM and then Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise to extend things from there. Great Britain opened the sprint for Jake Stewart and the 22-year-old appeared to have won it, only to have Bol go just wide of the line.