Tour of Britain Women stage 2: Lotte Kopecky wins from two-rider breakaway, beating Anna Henderson

Lotte Kopecky took her second victory in as many days at the Tour of Britain Women, beating Anna Henderson of Great Britain in a two-up sprint on stage 2. Behind Kopecky, her SD Worx-Protime teammate Lorena Wiebes swept up third place from the chasing group.

Kopecky and Henderson could not be split in the final 20km as they made their attack on Horseshoe Pass count, with dsm-firmenich PostNL making a futile attempt to close the gap into Wrexham.

Earlier in the stage, dsm-firmenich PostNL had coloured the first half of racing through the attacks of Franziska Koch and Rachele Barbieri. It was Koch who formed the one-rider breakaway for most of the stage whilst Lifeplus-Wahoo, to their credit, raced on undeterred by the overnight theft of their fleet of Ribble bikes. They started stage 2 on borrowed bikes.

Back to the racing, Koch was brought under check before the ascent of Horseshoe Pass and once on the category 1 climb, Kopecky and Henderson went clear of the peloton. It was Kopecky who was the most aggressive and the pair worked cohesively, for the most part, as they looked to take their two-woman move into the finish in Wrexham.

For a while, it looked as though dsm-firmenich PostNL and Liv AlUla Jayco might successfully capture the attackers, but Kopecky and Henderson were simply too strong on the run to home. They were able to make their attack count and contest the stage honours in a sprint.

"Yesterday was really close, today it was nice to be in the break with Anna and to finish it off in the sprint," Kopecky said after the finish.

"I kind of expected it already [Henderson sitting on in the sprint] but I had a recon of the final this morning so I knew what was coming and it was not a disadvantage to start from the lead."

A pair of attacks from dsm-firmenich PostNL

Setting out from Wrexham, the Tour of Britain Women stage 2 got underway on Friday morning and there were soon a flutter of attacks from the peloton. No rider could match the acceleration of Franziska Koch (dsm-firmenich PostNL), who had developed a gap of her own after 30km or so of racing.

Some 15km later and with Koch still alone up the road, the German's dsm-firmenich PostNL teammate Rachele Barbieri took her leave from the peloton and the pair were soon united as part of a two-woman breakaway.

For a while, they held a significant gap on the pack but ultimately it was down to Koch to carry the team's hopes, with Barbieri dropping back to the group. For most of the afternoon, Koch was the lone reader off the front of the race and took maximum points over the Eyton Hill category 3 QoM, followed by Heidi Franz (Lifeplus-Wahoo) and mountains jersey holder Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek) from behind.

Into the final 50km of racing, there was a crash that brought down Dilyxine Miermont (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93) and Karin Söderqvist (Lifeplus-Wahoo), whilst Koch's gap stood at around a minute and a half.

The peloton had a nervous feel about it, with gaps emerging as they looked to bring the one-woman breakaway under a firmer grip, but the German was eventually captured with 36km to ride. At this point, the second act of the day's stage began.

Stage 2 explodes on Horseshoe Pass

There was only one categorised climb in the final 50km of racing and it was to be the notorious Horseshoe Pass, which stretches out for 4.5km at 6.2%. With Koch engulfed in the peloton, SD Worx-Protime set to the task of bringing a punishing pace onto the slopes of the category 1 climb through Elena Cecchini.

Soon dropped from the peloton was Charlotte Kool, who is always expected to be Lorena Wiebes' (SD Worx-Protime) closest rival in a sprint finish. Under the onus of Wiebes' team, however, a bunch sprint finish soon looked to be a far-flung possibility.

With Cecchini used up, SD Worx-Protime turned to Christine Majerus and it was not long before the peloton was reduced to under 30 riders. At this point, stage 1 winner Lotte Kopecky sensed her opportunity and made an attack as the climb ramped up. Both Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Anna Hendersen (Great Britain) were able to follow Kopecky's initial acceleration, but Paternoster could not handle the pace and over the top of the climb, Kopecky and Henderson were the lone leaders on the road.

Henderson, making her comeback from a pair of fractured collarbones that had ruined her early season, had clearly been given the green light by Deignan, and settled into a rhythm of swapping turns with Kopecky. Their collaboration proved strong and heading into the final 20km, the pair held a 30-second gap over a reduced chasing group that was spearheaded by dsm-firmenich PostNL's Abi Smith.

The 22-year-old was working on behalf of her teammate Pfeiffer Georgi, the reigning British national champion. Georgi was soon whipping up alliances within the chasing group, coercing VolkerWessels into pace-setting and making her way up and down the line of riders in pursuit of another friendly face.

Georgi's lobbying was not for nothing, with St Michel-Mavic-Auber93 and Liv AlUla Jayco joining the chase as the race entered its final 15km. Kopecky and Henderson held a gap of 38 seconds with the road set to descend into the finish in Wrexham.

Not content with coming into the Welsh city as a twosome, though, Kopecky made a bid to shake Henderson off her wheel with 11km to ride, attacking on a small incline and powering herself out of the saddle. But Henderson was unmoved; the British rider immediately closed the gap and once on the back wheel of Kopecky, continued to pace through and off.

Into the final 5km, Liv AlUla Jayco, VolkerWessels and dsm-firmenich PostNL worked tirelessly to try and close the gap, but their deficit to Kopecky and Henderson now stood at 40 seconds and their opportunity was looking increasingly diminished.

As the final kilometre came into view, Henderson chose her position on the back wheel of Kopecky and it was from this spot that the Brit looked to make her move in the sprint. Ultimately, though, Kopecky mastered her positioning through the narrow streets and once the road opened up for the final sprint, the world champion could not be stopped.

Henderson could do nothing but slump into her saddle and accept second place, with Kopecky's teammate Wiebes roaring to third place from the chasing group behind. Liv AlUla Jayco and dsm-firmenich PostNL, for their efforts, placed Paternoster and Georgi in fourth and fifth, respectively.

For all the latest developments from the world of professional cycling, make sure to head over to our dedicated racing news section of the GCN website.