Tour of Britain: Two wins in a row for Olav Kooij with sprint victory on stage 2

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Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) secured a second consecutive victory on stage 2 at the Tour of Britain around Wrexham. 

In a chaotic, twisting and slightly uphill final, Kooij capitalised off of a perfect lead-out from his teammates Edoardo Affini and Wout van Aert to take the win ahead of Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) in second, with Van Aert finishing third and Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) a frustrated fourth.

A break stayed out front for most of the 109.9km stage around Wrexham but Jumbo-Visma kept them under control and then the sprinters' team took over. Bora-Hansgrohe tried to take control but yet again Jumbo-Visma emerged for Van Aert to lead out Kooij.  

"It was a short stage, and after yesterday, all the teams were looking at us to control the break. We used two guys to get them back. It was quite fast into the last three kilometres, slightly down and a bit twisty," Kooij explained in the post-stage interview.

"We knew that going into the last kilometre was crucial, and we reconned it. We went on the slightly uphill part. Everyone was suffering, and I just had to go one last bit."

The peloton shifted from the left side of the road to the right in the important final two kilometres, which resulted in a high-speed crash as one rider was squeezed into the roadside traffic cones. 

"I think we went from left to right and squeezed together, and it's a nasty crash. It's never good to see such things, but we went from left to right and close to the barrier," Kooij said.

Kooij continues to lead the overall classification ahead of Van Aert and Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) as the race heads into stage 3 from Goole to Beverley on Tuesday.

"We will see," Kooij said of his prospects of keeping the leader's jersey. "The guys worked hard for two days in a row. It will be long if we keep going like this, but we will see what the tactics will be in the days to come."

How if unfolded

The second day of racing at the Tour of Britain offered a shorter 109km route that started and finished in Wrexham. 

The relatively flat route ended with a categorised ascent over Eyton Hill, but at 1.4km and a gradient of 2.9%, it was not decisive enough to cause any separations in the field, with the route then reaching an intermediate sprint at just 10km from the finish line.

The race didn't start well for Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), who crashed in the neutral zone, but the Spaniard was back in the field for the official start. An early crash also saw Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team) go down, and while he required medical assistance from the race caravan, he was back in the field moments later.

Finn Crockett (Saint Piran), Callum Ormiston (Global 6 Cycling), Abram Stockman (TDT Unibet Cycling), and Jacob Scott (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) formed an early breakaway on stage 2 at Tour of Britain.

With 40km to go, the four riders held a 40-second gap on the peloton led by Jumbo-Visma with overall race leader Olav Kooij.

As the gap closed to 17 seconds, James Fouché (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) attacked out of the main field and bridged to the breakaway with 20km to the finish. However, they were all caught by the field with 13km to go, as teams set up for the bunch sprint.

As the field entered the final kilometres, the peloton shifted from left to right, causing Tobias Lund Andresen (Team dsm-firmenich) to hit a roadside barrier and go down. His team confirmed after the race that he was ok and that they would provide more information after the stage.

Bora-Hansgrohe lined out alongside Jumbo-Visma in the final sprint, but it was Kooij who took a second win in as many days in Wrexham.

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