Trip of BritainRally Cycling group take honours in stage two across ExeterRobin Carpenters last win was Cascade Classic in 2017Almost usually the Tour of Britain follows a script composed by the strongest groups. Kieran PenderIn Exeter the little-known Robin Carpenter, riding for the 2nd department Rally Cycling group, hung on after a long break, much of it on his own, to take the double of stage win and race lead. The last time anything similar occurred in the British Tour was 2014, when Edoardo Zardini of Italy won the phase up the Tumble in South Wales, and took the lead for a day, although Carpenter will hope to hang on for longer.Although they do not delight in the leviathan status of Ineos, Jumbo-Visma or Deceuninck-Quickstep, Rally are presently enjoying something of a run of success in cyclings smaller sized national trips. In the last month they have landed three stage wins at the Tour of Portugal and one at the Tour of Denmark however in terms of the quality of the opposition this was perhaps their finest of the season.Carpenter, a 29-year-old from Philadelphia whose last win was the Cascade Classic in 2017, was part of the five-man escape that got away soon after the start and delighted in an early four-minute lead, up until Dan Martins Israel Start Up Nation group chose to check the waters around Dartmouth, splitting the field and closing to within 45 seconds prior to deciding it was all a little early, with more than 120km remaining.Their effort broke the normal harmony among the World Tour teams and the escape was then allowed to acquire almost eight minutes before the run over Dartmoor. The quintet were whittled down over the lengthy climbs past granite tors and stones to Rundlestone and Warren House Inn, where there was still no consensus about who should go after, with the overnight leader Wout van Aerts Jumbo-Visma doing the bare minimum, while Deceuninck-Quickstep appeared to be holding back.Perhaps they hoped that Mark Cavendish– a crash victim early on, with a damaged elbow– may be able to stay with the peloton or possibly Tuesdays 18km team time trial in South Wales triggered them to hang fire.As the mainly downhill run to Exeter began, Carpenter dispatched the last of his companions, Jacob Scott of the British group Canyon-DHB, however Scott at least had the consolation of a healthy lead in the King of the Mountains prize having actually led the race through Cornwall the day before.
Trip of BritainRally Cycling group take honours in stage two throughout ExeterRobin Carpenters last win was Cascade Classic in 2017Almost invariably the Tour of Britain follows a script written by the strongest teams. They decide which of the minnows is allowed to be in every days escape, to scrabble for the minor awards, and they decree when the escape is checked prior to the huge names do fight for the stage win. Very periodically, nevertheless, a rider strikes a more than welcome blow for the smaller sized fry.Jack Haig defies chances to continue Grand Tour purple spot for Australian cyclists