Dutch sprinter Cees Bol (Team DSM) scored his maiden victory of the season as the Tour of Britain headed from Hawick to Duns for its final stage in Scotland, as Kelso teammate Oscar Onley had to battle hard after a late crash to retain his strong general classification position.
Bol pipped Jake Stewart to the line by the narrowest of margins to claim victory by a tyre's width in the Borders market town.
Hawick hosted the depart for Stage 2, and the Hawick Belles led out the professional peloton at the ceremonial start on North Bridge Street, before the peloton headed on the 170km route to Duns.
The race then snaked through the Scottish Borders as it passed Oscar Onley hometown of Kelso, the Team DSM rider said of the crowds that has massed to see the Scottish rider:
“It was really special going through Kelso – I didn’t even know there was that many people in Kelso! The roads were completely full, it was really cool to see; I’ve got to thank them all for that!”
The weather provided was more like that we have come to expect in this sweltering summer than that of Sunday’s stage, with the sunshine providing an extra bonus on the beautiful backdrop of the borders.
A six-rider break containing both Tanfields – Harry and Charlie (Ribble-Weldtite) and Matthew Teggart (Wiv-SunGod) were awarded a three-and-a-half-minute lead before the Ineos-Grenadiers fronted the peloton to chase down their advantage.
The bunch caught the break in the final 20km, setting off a fresh flurry of attacks from Saint Piran and most notably Davide Gabburo (Bardiani-CSF) before the peloton made the final catch before they came into the finish in Duns.
The Scots had some bad fortune as Finn Crockett (Ribble-Weldtite) was involved in a heavy crash and came home in the at the back of the field, 16 minutes down.
While, the final 15 kilometres saw Onley take a heavy fall after a touch of wheels and drop out of the peloton at a key juncture, but the Scot was able to make it back on the peloton in the final five kilometres.
Calum Johnston (Caja-Rural) came home in 58th place on the same time as Bol, and a place behind Onley, meaning that the two Scots retain their strong general classification position – only 15 seconds behind race leader Corbin Strong. The New Zealander extended his lead by picking a time bonification for third position on today’s stage.
On his chase back into the peloton, Onley said:
“It was a pretty hard chase at the beginning but once I got into the cars that made it a bit easier, I just about made it on to the back of the bunch on that climb – but I was pretty on the limit so I couldn’t really help the boys in the final, but they did it without me, so a pretty class day for the team.”
The stage however belonged to the Cees Bol and Team DSM, on his victory Bol told Scottish Cycling:
“It’s super nice to win, it’s been a long search for the first win of the year – it’s super nice for the team as well!”
As for his personal aspirations on the race, the Dutchman isn’t ruling out a stab at the points jersey:
“We’ll see, I think we’ll just take it day-by-day – we’ll go for the best possible result. We have guys like Oscar for the more challenging days and a couple of sprinters as well, we’ll take it a day at a time and then see if the Points Jersey becomes an option”
His teammate Onley, added on his teammates victory:
“We knew with the headwind in the final that it was probably going to come down to a sprint and the slight uphill drag to the line meant it really suited Cees. We just had to made sure he made it over the main climb (Wanside Rigg) – and after that we knew it was all in for him to the finish.”
The races heads to England tomorrow, where it'll stay for the final six stages with the Durham to Sunderland forming the third stage of this great race.
