The 174 kilometer long second stage of Tour of Yorkshire between Selby and York was dominated by a breakaway consisting of 8 riders and for once without CULT Energy Pro Cycling participation. But the Danish team controlled the peloton and made their mark on the events in the finale.
 

With 30 kilometers remaining, the gap was down to one minute and 30 seconds and the short gap motivated the escapees to start attacking each other but the field didn’t miss their target. With several teams joining forces on the front of the pack including CULT Energy Pro Cycling, all odds were against breakaway success.

The final escapee was swept up entering the final kilometer and CULT Energy Pro Cycling constantly tried to elbow their way to the front to put Russell Downing in a favorable position for the expected bunch sprint finish. BMC put a massive pressure on the pack on the final kilometers and Greg van Avermaet launched a long sprint with a face full of teeth but he was surpassed in the final meters by Moreno Hofland (Lotto-Jumbo) who took the stage.

Russell Downing finished 7th in the frantic bunch sprint:

“My teammates really did an amazing job keeping me out of trouble and they put me in an excellent position in the finale and unfortunately, I could only reward them by finishing 7th. On another note, it was an amazing day with thousands and thousands of fans along the road and especially, the run-in to York was a scene to remember forever,” says Downing.

DS Luke Roberts states:

“When we didn’t have a rider in the first break, we decided to make our mark on the race by controlling and setting the pace in the pack and the boys rode really well. Especially Rasmus Quaade put in a very strong effort on the front of the field putting the pressure on. We had our hopes up for a bit of crosswind to split things up but it wasn’t to be. Tomorrow, we expect a much harder stage and we’re looking forward to putting a man in the front and it’s going to be interesting to see whether a single team will be able to control the anarchy I expect in the finale.”