Ireland's Sam Bennett, right front, takes third place on stage 2 of the Tour of Britain as Mark Renshaw takes the stage and yellow jersey.
Having returned to this race with four wins already this year but looking for more before the season is out, Ireland’s Sam Bennett went very close to victory on stage 2 of the Tour of Britain today.
The Irishman was third in the sprint from a depleted peloton that settled the stage after a testing final few kilometres on the 200km trek from Knowsley to Llandudno.
However, while his making the podium was a great result, the Irish riders did not have it all their own way today.
Jack Wilson from the An Post-Chainreaction team came down in a crash with around 15km remaining and looked to be struggling to get back to his feet.
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He fell hard into a ditch at the side of a narrow road in a crash that saw three or four others also fall as the race swept to the left. At the time of writing his condition was not clear, though he did finish the stage.
Bennett’s team did a fantastic job to keep him in contention in a frenetic final 5km. But ultimately the Irish rider was caught out when Briton Ben Swift (Team Sky) started the finishing sprint earlier than expected.
An Post-Chainreaction's McNally, second in line, was very active in escape before he managed to get into the main escape of the day (Photo: Larry Hickmott - VeloUK.net)
Bennett suddenly found himself in 4th place and running out of road to pick off those ahead of him, with Mark Renshaw (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) taking victory from Swift and the Irish man.
Garmin-Sharp’sTyler Farrar was next, with Rik Zabel of BMC in 5th place.
The podium finish follows the disappointment of yesterday’s opening stage in Liverpool, where Bennett had to settle for 12th in the bunch sprint after a circuit race that should have suited him well.
He also finished second twice on stages in the Tour of Britain last year and took victory on a tough stage 5 with a hilly finish.
The racing today was once again dominated by a small breakaway; this time five men went very early just as four had done yesterday.
And again it was the classy British rider Mark McNally who was up the road for An Post-Chainreaction. He took the climbers’ jersey into today’s race, having grabbed it yesterday.
He was rewarded for his efforts again today, picking up points in the two cat 2 ascents and holding his jersey ahead of a lot of climbs on stage 3 tomorrow.
Kittel looked great in his yellow jersey rolling out from the start today, but he was nobbled by the late climb and was dropped as the racing exploded (Photo: Larry Hickmott - VeloUK.net)
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However, his escape was whittled down from five to three under the pressure applied by Lasse Hansen (Garmin-Sharp) with around 15km remaining.
And with a cat 2 ascent to be crested on the seafront with just 5km remaining, the breakaway’s gap of just 45 seconds at that point was never going to be enough.
As the main field hit the climb, Irish-born Danish international Chris Juul Jensen (Tinkoff Saxo) attacked and was joined by US sprinter Farrar.
However, just as they closed in on the three-man breakaway, the main peloton mopped everyone up.
And as the climbing began to seriously deplete the main field, the real attacking for the stage win started.
It was Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) who took it up as the bunch neared the top of the small climb and as stage 1 winner and yellow jersey Marcel Kittel (Giant Shimano) was dropped from the field.
As Chavanel charged down the climb, Michal Kwiatkowski (OmegaPharma-Quickstep) then attacked off the front of the strung out bunch.
However, while he looked like he could hold on for victory, the pack behind did not give up; Bennett’s NetApp-Endura visible at the head of affairs in helping to keep the Irishman out of trouble and in the best position possible.
Kwiatkowski was quickly caught and immediately his team mate Niki Terpstra jumped, followed by Alex Dowsett (Movistar).
However, they were closed down by last year’s race winner Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), who was working for his sprinter Swift.
And just as Dowsett was brought back; Swift began the sprint. However, had no answer for Renshaw, who not only took the victory on the day but also the yellow jersey.
Bennett’s third on the stage and the time bonus it brought was enough to move him up to fourth overall on equal time with Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) who was 4th yesterday.
Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo) was 24th on the same time as the winner, Ryan Mullen (An Post-Chainreaction) was 75th some 44 seconds down and Jack Wilson battled bravely after his spill, to finish 12:55 down.
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