Having taken 9 bonus seconds in yesterday's stage, Sonny Colbrelli went into today's stage of the Tour of Britain hoping to take the leader's jersey. However, an untimely puncture took him out of contention for a sprint that suited him perfectly.

Sonny Colbrelli had made a big plan for the opening stages of the Tour of Britain. Yesterday he joined the early break and scored important bonus seconds and today he planned to sprint for the stage victory in a hilly stage that suited him down to the ground, hoping to take the leader's jersey.

Unfortunately, he punctured just 4km from the line and so lost all chances to take the lead. Instead, Nicola Ruffoni was the best Bardiani rider in 9th.

”I had targeted this stage both for the finale and the possibility to take the leader's jersey after the seconds gained yesterday in the three sprints," Colbrelli said. "My team-mates led me very well in the last km, I was in the first 15 positions at the top of the final climb but the puncture forced me to stop. I changed the bike but there was not enough time to come back. The only joy is the green sprint jersey."

”The guys were perfect till the last 5km where we were not able to finalize all what we had done in the first part of the stage," sports director Roberto Reverberi said. "Battaglin and Zardini were smart to join a large breakaway that could become dangerous if it got more than one minute of advantage. Then when they came back, we worked for Colbrelli and Ruffoni.

"The former had some bad luck, he was in a good position and ready for the final sprint but the puncture took him out of contention. Ruffoni wasn't dropped like Kittel and Cavendish. He was close to Colbrelli but when the sprint started he was too far back to go for the victory or at least the podium.

"Tomorrow it’s the hardest stage with a summit finish on The Tumble. Bongiorno and Zardini are in good shape so we aim at good results."