Meyer sprints to Tour of Britain stage win

Australia's Commonwealth Games time trial champion Cameron Meyer took victory in stage two of the Tour of Britain.

Mitchelton Scott's Cameron Meyer.

Cameron Meyer has clinched a stunning sprint victory on day two of the Tour of Britain. (AAP)

Australian rider Cameron Meyer has won the second stage of the Tour of Britain after edging out Italian Alessandro Tonelli in a thrilling sprint finish.

Riding for Australian team Michelton-Scott, Meyer - who last claimed a road race victory in February 2015 - had been a part of the main group with Tonelli which went clear in the opening nine miles on Monday.

Tonelli, of the Bardiani-CSF team, took a six-second time bonus on the line which meant he claimed the green jersey on the 108-mile Cranbrook to Barnstaple stage in Devon.

"I've been here at the Tour of Britain six or seven years ago when I was caught in the last kilometre so I was hoping there was no deja vu," Meyer, the Commonwealth Games champion told ITV.

"I just picked my moment to go across to four guys and we had a breakaway of five. In the end it was a great bike race for me and a thrilling finish.

"It was a bit of a shock to take the win. We'll see what I can do for the rest of the tour.

"It was always going to be close. I heard that the gap was one minute with 10 kilometres to go, and that there was a strong group of favourites coming fast from behind, so I wanted to push on.

"I was pretty confident that with my track background that I could negotiate a sprint against whoever I had to go up against. Coming into the finish, I got the Italian [Tonelli] to go up to the 500m to go mark - I knew I had him covered from there."

New Zealander Patrick Bevan currently sits third in the overall classification, just eight seconds behind with Team Sky's Dutchman Wout Poels leading the chasing group.

British duo Scott Davies, having taken the King of the Mountains jersey, and Hugh Carthy are both within 22 seconds of the leader.


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Source: AAP


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