Ireland's Dean Harvey in 80km breakaway ride at Tour of Britain | Video

Dean Harvey, the Irish rider competing with Trinity Racing, leads the breakaway on stage 2 of Tour of Britain from Darlington to Redcar (Photo: Will Palmer-SWpix.com)

Dean Harvey (Trinity Racing) has put in a strong breakaway ride on stage 2 at the Tour of Britain on a day when some of the general classification men flexed in the final to gain time.

The stage victory, and race leader's jersey, went to the British break-out pro rider of the season, Stevie Williams (Israel Premier Tech). He won the stage into Redcar to add to his victory in La Flèche Wallonne (1.UWT) back in the spring.

Ireland's Harvey (21) was part of a breakaway on the 152km stage that also included Nickolas Zukowsky (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Callum Thornley (both Trinity Racing), Louis Sutton (Great Britain), Baptiste Veistroffer (AG2R Citroën U23 Team), Cade Bickmore, Laurent Gervais (Project Echelon Racing) and James McKay (Saint Piran).

Though the climbs on the course today were modest - including the 1.9km Ugglebarnby Moor averaging 7.9 per cent, they split both the breakaway and peloton. A group containing the favourites - including Soudal-QuickStep team mates Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe getting across to the leaders.

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Once that group became larger, it eventually whittle down to: Alaphilippe, Evenepoel, Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Tom Donnenwirth (AG2R Citroën U23 Team), Israel-Premier Tech's Joseph Blackmore, Jake Stewart and Williams, Mark Donovan (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Sutton.

And while the last 30 minutes of racing saw plenty of attacks at the front, it was eventually the trio of Williams, Onley and Alaphilippe who pulled clear to contest the finish; Williams winning from Onley and Alaphilippe.

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The next remaining five riders from the breakaway, including Evenepoel, finished at 21 seconds, with the remains of the peloton, containing race leader Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) finishing at 1:27.

Irish riders Rory Townsend (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Liam O'Brien (Lidl Trek) were in that reduced bunch, of just 40 riders, and placed 24th and 29th in the stage respectively. After his breakaway efforts, for 80km, Harvey finished in 66th at 13:48, while fellow Irish rider Ronan O'Connor (Global 6 United) was 85th at 18:45.

Williams now leads the race overall, with four stages remaining, by six seconds from Onley. Alaphilippe is 3rd at 16 seconds with Townsend best-placed of the Irish, in 16th at 1:37.

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