Stage two of the 2013 Tour of Britain had everything.
A sprint finish won by the current Milan-San Remo champion, a breakaway featuring two of the biggest stars of this year’s Tour de France, and rain – lots of it – featured on the menu for the 225km run from Kendal to Carlisle.
It’s not certain whether Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhbeka) sprinted with extra ambition merely to reach the refuge of the team bus, but few would blame him if this was his primary motivation.
Sir Bradley Wiggins was among the riders to hit the deck in atrocious conditions, but the 2012 Tour de France champion finished the stage unscathed and today will attempt to stamp his mark on the race in the flat, 10-mile individual time trial in Knowsley safari park.
Photographer, Paul Hayes-Watkins, embedded with Britain’s IG-Sigma Sport, one of just a handful of domestic teams racing wheel-to-wheel with the stars of the UCI WorldTour, captured these superb images.
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