Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team capitalized on their protagonist approach in the final kilometers of 200.8km Tour of Britain Stage 2 on Monday. After Michal Kwiatkowski went on the attack on the descent of Great Orme, with 4.2km to go, the peloton was forced to go full gas to catch back to him. He was caught with 2.6km to go, but OPQS kept themselves in perfect position to still contest the stage. Mark Renshaw, Niki Terpstra, and Michal Kwiatkowski were there to go for the victory. Terpstra even came to the front for a brief acceleration.
An attack of Alex Dowsett (Movistar) was caught inside the final kilometer, and Renshaw was in perfect position in the center of the peloton to launch his sprint. He beat Ben Swift (Team Sky) and Sam Bennett (NetApp-Endura) to the line for the stage win, and he also took over the overall lead.
Kwiatkowski raised his hands to celebrate the victory and still placed 6th. Terpstra finished 8th.
Renshaw is the 17th OPQS rider to win at least one race in 2014. OPQS has now won 61 races (59 road) in 2014.
"It was quite a fast final 30 kilometers," Renshaw said. "Especially the last 5 kilometers with that kind of a descent. It was quite exciting for the public, I'm sure it was really spectacular to watch. It suited me very well. It was a hard little final, but I had good legs after the Tour de France. So, with a bit of good timing in the sprint it worked out quite well. We've got a great team here. It's a shame Mark Cavendish crashed yesterday because who knows what could have happened, he still finished 3rd yesterday. Normally it would have been a perfect sprint for him on my wheel. Now he's trying to recover after taking a big hit on his thigh. It's amazing he's still in the race. But personally it's great to reward the team with my first win in an OPQS jersey this year. I'm also proud of the fact that we had three riders in the top 10 today, with Michal Kwiatkowski and Niki Terpstra doing well in the final kilometers with me. Kwiatkowski came onto my wheel in the final. That shows what kind of class rider he is. He knows if he's on my wheel it's one more bike length for whoever is trying to come behind. He's a class rider and those kinds of tactics help teams win races. It's great to win, it's a fantastic feeling."
Mark Cavendish continues to recover from a Stage 1 crash that caused pain in his left quadricep.
"I've gotten used to that feeling by helping riders like Cavendish," Renshaw said. "I've dedicated myself to so many wins for other riders, so it's really nice to get a win personally. It's also nice to step up when our leader took a big hit. If Cav is not feeling great, he'll tell us. Today he let us know and it was an opportunity for me. I'd like to dedicate this to him as he's one of the biggest champions of the sport. I came to this team to help him, and even when he's not 100 percent I'd still dedicate my effort to help him. I'm glad I could step up and execute the sprint in his place, and I'll continue to support him and my other OPQS teammates in the next days."
