Magnus Cort (Astana) launched a stinging late attack to win the Tour de Yorkshire’s first-ever summit finish in stage 2.
The Dane came over the top of Greg van Avermaet (BMC) in the final meters, and now leads the Olympic champion by 4 seconds in the overall standings.
“It’s really a tough stage today and actually I thought the finish would be too hard for me,” Cort Nielsen said after the stage. “The team had big belief in me and I really have to thank them for supporting me.”
“I thought [Van Avermaet] was the man to beat. I knew I would be quick so I was just hoping for no big attacks and then I could open up in the final 150 metres,” he added. “We will try everything [for overall victory] – I believe if I can win here it’s possible but there’s still a long way to go.”
Tour de Yorkshire 2018 – stage 2 results (Barnsley – Ilkley):
| 1 | Magnus Cort (Astana) | 3:25:34 |
| 2 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | ,, |
| 3 | Eduard Prades (Euskadi-Murias) | ,, |
| 4 | Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 5 | Jonathan Hivert (Direct Energie) | +05” |
| 6 | Robert Kiserlovski (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 7 | Michael Storer (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 8 | Colin Joyce (Rally Cycling) | ,, |
| 9 | Steff Cras (Katusha-Alpecin) | +11” |
| 10 | Brent Bookwalter (BMC) | ,, |
General classification after stage 2:
| 1 | Magnus Cort (Astana) | 7:33:41 |
| 2 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | +04” |
| 3 | Eduard Prades (Euskadi-Murias) | +06” |
| 4 | Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) | +10” |
| 5 | Colin Joyce (Rally Cycling) | +15” |
| 6 | Robert Kiserlovski (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 7 | Michael Storer (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 8 | Brent Bookwalter (BMC) | +21” |
| 9 | Steff Cras (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 10 | Anthony Perez (Cofidis) | ,, |
