Eddie Dunbar well placed ahead of uphill finish at Tour of Britain

Matteo Trentin of Mitchelton-Scott wins stage 2 of the Tour of Britain into Kelso (Photo: Alex Whitehead-SWpix.com)

Eddie Dunbar made the front group at the Tour of Britain on today's stage 2 and is well placed ahead of an uphill finish on Monday's third stage.

That incline to the finish line will is not one for the pure climbers like Dunbar and some of the classics men will be fancied for the win.

However, it should still cause some time gaps and if splits appear as the road goes up, Dunbar is likely to benefit.

Today's stage 2 was won by Matteo Trentin; the Mitchelton-Scott rider proving fastest in the sprint to the line after 165km into Kelso.

Pavel Sivakov attacked up the late climb of Dingleton and while the Russian Team Ineos rider pulled out a decent gap, he was caught.

However, his attack and the chase after him saw the pure sprinters dropped, including stage 1 winner and race leader Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma).

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Conor Dunne among the Israel Cycling Academy men during today's stage 2 (Photo: Alex Whitehead-SWpix.com)
Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon Circus) and Frederik Frison (Lotto Soudal) attacking and bridging to the three leaders; a move that was brought back (Photo: Alex Whitehead-SWpix.com)

That meant when Trentin won the stage he also took the race lead. Jasper de Buyst (Lotto Soudal) was 2nd today with Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma).

Alex Dowsett (Katusha Alpecin) put in a fantastic late attack and it looked like he may just hang on, though it wasn't to be for him.

Rory Townsend, the Irish Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes rider who went on the attack yesterday, slipped down the standings from his overnight 2nd place.

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He was not among the 63-rider front group today and instead led home the second large group on the road, some 3:31 down.

Former Irish champion Conor Dunne, who made the breakaway yesterday, made the front group and was on lead out duties for his team sprinter, Davide Cimolai.

The Italian, who placed 2nd on stage 1, took 4th in the sprint today into Kelso.

Trentin now leads overall by 11 seconds from Cimolai, with the top five riders overall having gained time via time bonuses.

There is a large group of riders, some 56 in total, all on equal time 17 seconds down on the race leader.

Eddie Dunbar is among those, in 43rd place, and looking for an opportunity to take a chance if he can.

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