A sprint finish was predicted and a sprint finish was delivered, as the peloton reeled in the early breakaway in the last few kilometres; allowing Rick Zabel (Katusha-Alpecin) to fly over the line to take stage two in Bedale.
The race saw an early breakaway formed with Tom Stewart (Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes), Fabien Grellier (Total-Direct Energie), Jake Scott (SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling) and Chris McGlinchey (Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK) all racing away from the bunch.
Three of these riders would take the sprint points too as Tom Stewart crossed the Pontefract line ahead of Jake Scott and Chris McGlinchey. The break was then joined by two more riders in the form of WIGGINS teammates James Fouché and Robert Scott.
With 12km to go until the day’s only classified climb at the Cote de Lindley the break was still out in front, although their lead had been cut to around a minute twenty.
It was one of the WIGGINS riders who animated himself enough to take the King of the Mountains points, as James Fouché raced ahead of sprint winner Tom Stewart with Chris McGlinchey taking another third place.
From here the riders got their first and only look at the UCI Road World Championships circuit under race conditions and it seems that the crowd had the same idea as droves of supporters lined the route and watched the peloton ride up Parliament Street and past what will be the finishing straight in September.
Harrogate also saw the second sprint of the day and roles were reversed from the first sprint as Jake Scott took the spoils ahead of Chris McGlinchey and Tom Stewart.
With only a 60 second advantage as the race left Harrogate, it was thought that the bunch sprint would eventually be caught – the peloton wanted no part of another breakaway stage win.
16km to go saw the breakaway riders start to attack each other ahead of the advancing bunch but it was only around 3km to go that the peloton finally regrouped. It was here that the sprint teams started to organise themselves and a bunch sprint ensued.
A few riders looked as though they could take the stage but an emphatic ride from Rick Zabel gave Katusha-Alpecin their first stage victory in Yorkshire.
Continuing Roompot-Charles’ great form at this year’s TDY, Boy van Poppel took second place and with it the Asda points jersey; ahead of Team INEOS’ Chris Lawless who took third.
Stage 2 Results
Jesper Asselman (Roompot-Charles)
Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries GC Jersey
Boy van Poppel (Roompot-Charles)
Asda Points Jersey
Jacob Hennessey (Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes)
LNER King of the Mountains Jersey
Jake Scott (Swift Carbon Pro Cycling)
Dimension Data Most Aggressive
TdY Preview - Stage 3
The Tour de Yorkshire continues on Saturday morning with the final stage of the women’s race, it’s followed in the afternoon with stage 3 of the men’s race.
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