Men’s Tour of Britain Stage 2

Olav Kooij (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) made it two wins from two stages as he sprinted to a clear victory in Stowmarket at stage two of the 2025 Lloyds Tour of Britain, while extending his lead in the general classification.

REPORT: COOL KOOIJ DOUBLES UP WITH STOWMARKET SPRINT IN LLOYDS TOUR OF BRITAIN MEN (Press release) — Olav Kooij (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) made it two wins from two stages as he sprinted to a clear victory in Stowmarket at stage two of the 2025 Lloyds Tour of Britain, while extending his lead in the general classification. Victory sees his overall lead stretch to 14 seconds over the second place finisher on the stage Tom Crabbe (Team Flanders – Baloise) and third placed Sam Watson (INEOS Grenadiers) who was also once again the highest finishing British rider, with both Crabbe and Watson holding the same positions in the general classification respectively.

Potential stormy weather and high winds greeted the riders for the stage, which began and finished in Stowmarket, taking in a large lap of the East Suffolk countryside in between, as attacks started to fly immediately from the moment the flag dropped. The breakaway that eventually managed to establish itself consisted of Rafael Reis (Anicolor / Tien 21), Andreas Stokbro (Unibet Tietema Rockets), Harrthijs De Vries (Unibet Tietema Rockets) and Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto) who cooperated well to maintain a gap of around two minutes to the chasing peloton.

Stokbro took the maximum points at the day’s Intermediate Sprint at Stradbroke, and then repeated his result at the King of the Mountain point at Semer Hill to earn the lead in the King of the Mountains competition. This was where the breakaway began to fall apart and Reis was dropped, leaving a trio of Stokbro, De Vries and Veistroffer to battle on to the finish. Despite a valiant effort, the escapees were caught at just three kilometers to go as the sprint trains began to wind up behind them, although De Vries earned the combativity award on the stage for his breakaway efforts.

Bahrain Victorious put in a strong leadout in the final kilometre but it was British national champion Watson who launched his sprint first, although even he was no match for Kooij who was imperious and crossed the line to win by a considerable distance, with Crabbe passing Watson to earn second place. This was Kooij’s sixth stage victory on the Lloyds Tour of Britain overall, and also means he extends his lead in the Points Classification with a difference to 28 points to second placed Crabbe, who now leads the Youth Classification.

Speaking after the podium, Kooij said: “It was a bit harder than yesterday, we had to use a lot of power to make the sprint in the first place. I didn’t look back but it felt like it wasn’t as close as yesterday so I’m happy with that. The race suits me quite well, another stage win after some hard work from the team so I’m really happy with that. Compared to yesterday we used a few more to catch the break so I was a bit more on my own, I found my way and there was space for me to go. When I had the space, I went and felt like I was the fastest.”

Stage three on Thursday 4 September sees the Lloyds Tour of Britain return to the city of Milton Keynes for the first time since 2008. The 122.8km stage to Ampthill in Central Bedfordshire begins from Midsummer Boulevard at 11:30 with live coverage on ITV4 and ITVX.

SELECTED
1. Olav Kooij
3. Sam Watson
5. Rory Townsend
7. Luke Lamperti
14. Sean Flynn
16. Ben Chilton
17. Joshua Giddings
25. Joe Blackmore
31. Oscar Onley
40. Ben Swift
44. Tao Geoghegan Hart
51. Matthew Brennan
54. Fred Wright
56. Joshua Golliker
58. Matthew Bostock
59. Huw Buck Jones
61. Zeb Kyffin
64. Mark Donovan
74. Ben Wiggins
78. Thomas Gloag
94. Harrison Wood
95. Finlay Tarling
102. Geraint Thomas
107. Matthew Walls
108. Josh Charlton
109. Ethan Hayter
110. Joe Pidcock
https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=45&y=2025&e=02