Brändle claims second successive win at Tour of Britain

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A daring breakaway move paid dividends for Alex Dowsett (Movistar) as he moved into the overall lead of the Tour of Britain while Matthias Brändle (IAM Cycling) claimed his second stage victory in as many days.

Dowsett, Brändle and Thomas Stewart (Madison Genesis) were part of a three-man move that went clear after 50 kilometres of racing and then defied the odds to hold off the peloton and utterly change the complexion of the race.

Dowsett began the day 1:25 off the yellow jersey of Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and many wondered if the stiffest challenge to the Pole’s lead between now and London might well come in the concluding time trial.

On the rolling roads to Hemel Hempstead, however, it seemed as though the peloton under-estimated both the strength of the leading trio and, perhaps, the difficulty of the terrain on the stage. With the benefit of hindsight, it certainly seems an error to have allowed riders of the calibre of Dowsett and Brändle to establish a five-minute lead, and even when Omega Pharma-QuickStep took up the reins of pursuit in earnest in the final 50 kilometres, they found it difficult to peg back the gap.

By that point, of course, there was understandable fatigue in a peloton that had already fragmented and frantically reformed during a rapid opening hour of racing before the Dowsett move established itself.

Omega Pharma-QuickStep also found themselves without many allies in the peloton. Bernard Eisel was an occasional contributor for Sky and Bardiani-CSF put their shoulder to the wheel in the finale, but the Tinkoff-Saxo team of Nicolas Roche opted not to lead the chase.

Dowsett, Brändle and Stewart had 4:33 in hand with 30 kilometres remaining and they only conceded a minute of that advantage over the next ten kilometres. On paper, a bunch sprint had seemed a possibility for the stage beforehand, but the sight of Mark Cavendish leading the chase on behalf of Kwiatkowski illustrated the general desperation in the finale.

The three leaders coped well, too, with the climbs of Kop Hill and Nashleigh during the rolling finale, and they were still 2:30 clear with just five miles to go. At that point, Kwiatkowski himself came to the front in a bid to salvage his race, and the Pole’s mammoth three-kilometre turn did succeed in making some inroads into the break’s lead.

Up ahead, Dowsett was generous in his efforts as he rode to secure the yellow jersey, and there was little surprise when Brändle ripped away to claim the three-up sprint in Hemel Hempstead and his second successive stage win.

Behind, Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani-CSF) and Cavendish were among the more forceful contributors to the pursuit in the final kilometres, but the peloton’s deficit was still a sizeable 1:51 at the finish, where Sonny Colbrelli claimed the sprint for fourth.

In the general classification, Dowsett now holds a lead of 34 seconds over Kwiatkowski, while Zardini lies third, a further six seconds behind.

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