Tour de Yorkshire: Rick Zabel wins stage 2

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Rick Zabel gave Katusha-Alpecin their second victory of the 2019 season, breaking his own four-year long dry spell in a chaotic finale to a fast 132km stage in Tour de Yorkshire to Bedale.

Boy van Poppel (Roompot-Charles) was next best ahead of Chris Lawless (Team Ineos), with Jesper Asselman continuing in the race lead by one second over Zabel.

Thanks to his time bonus for second place, Van Poppel moved into third overall at five seconds behind his teammate.

"I'm just so happy I can win a race. It's also really important for the team because we haven't won so much this year. To get a win here is really amazing," Zabel said.

Zabel profited from the work of Dimension Data, who pulled for Cavendish into the final 500m only for the Manxman to get washed away in a messy, physical push to the line. The German sensed an opening and hit out early, getting a quick gap and holding off Van Poppel by a clean pair of wheels.

"It was very hectic today. Short stages are always full gas, and it was a headwind all day, but we still raced pretty hard. The last five kilometres were pure chaos, and I was close to crashing a few times because it was just pure chaos.

"I don't know how, but I came in a good position in the last 500m, then I saw the 300m sign and I know I can do a long sprint. I thought 'OK, I must go for it. If someone comes over me at least I tried'. I was so afraid when I came in the last 50m because I'm not a guy who wins often and I thought today maybe I can win, and I was so afraid someone comes over - it was such a relief when I crossed the line," Zabel said.

"I had a pretty shit start to the season with a concussion and a broken collarbone, and now I win a stage in Yorkshire. It's really amazing for me."

How it unfolded

Several hours after the women's race had left Barsley and set off to Bedale in the Tour de Yorkshire Women's race the men followed for their second stage of the Tour de Yorkshire. There were a flurry of early attacks in the cold and damp conditions as the peloton set out on their 132km north towards the World Championshps finising circuit in Harrogate.

The main move came when Tom Stewart (Canyon DHB), Fabien Grellier (Total Direct Energie), Jake Scott (Swiftcarbon Pro Cycling) and Chris McGlinchey (Vitus Pro Cycling) broke clear and established an early lead. Their efforts were bolstered when Rob Scott and James Fouche, both from Team Wiggins, joined them to make a leading group of six. The group worked through the Yorkshire countryside and built up a lead of around two minutes as Dimension Data, and race leader Jesper Asselman and his Roompot-Charles team controlled the front of the peloton.

By the time the leaders approached the only climb of the day on the Cote de Lindley they were on the Worlds course that will be used in September and New Zealander Fouche opened up a gap on the rest of the break before taking maximum King of the Mountains points on the climb.

As the leaders raced through the picturesque town of Harrogate their advantage had dropped to under a minute as a number of rival teams began to increase their pressure on the front of the peloton. Scott won the final intermediate sprint of the stage with 47km to go as Harrogate hero Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) led the peloton.

The main field eased up slightly inside the final 40km and allowed the break to rebuild their lead to just over a minute however the pressure from Roompot-Charles began to tell in the next 20km with the gap dropping to just 21 seconds.

Four kilometres later and still with 17 seconds in hand, Steward launched an attack that splintered the breakaway, and, joined by McGlinchey, the pair left their former companions to be caught by the peloton with 15km to go.

With the previous stage's lesson fresh in the minds of the teams, the peloton was making no mistake, and kept the duo on a short leash.

With the duo nearly caught with 9km to go, three more riders went on the attack and breathed new life into the attack. US champion Johnny Brown (Hagens Berman Axeon) took over from Roompot's Jan van Schip at the front and reeled in the move with 4.5km to go just as Stewart and McGlinchey put in another attack as the skies opened up.

But the legs were dead, and with 4km to go the peloton was all together and the lead-out trains assembled to set up their sprinters.

Ian Stannard (Team Ineos) led the peloton into the final 2km but then CCC Team seized control for Van Avermaet.

Dimension Data surged forward with 1.3km to go, hoping to deliver Cavendish to a long-sought victory, but the Manxman lost position and was washed away as Zabel surged ahead to the win.

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