Tour de Yorkshire 2019: Rick Zabel wins stage two amid bunch sprint in Bedale as Mark Cavendish fades

German rider Rick Zabel was a surprise winner of stage two of the Tour de Yorkshire 2019 in a thrilling bunch sprint in the North Yorkshire town of Bedale. Zabel held off a group of British sprinters including Daniel McLay and Mark Cavendish to clinch the victory for Katusha-Alpecin.

Zabel is normally a lead-out rider – someone who sets up a team-mate for a sprint by dragging them into position on the final straight – but with no sprint specialist in the team he took it upon himself to make a dash for the line, and no one could keep pace.

It was in part the result of the conditions for a race like this where smaller teams cobbled together late in the day tend to have little time to prepare, and less numbers to control a race, leading to an unpredictable finish like this one.

Even so, Cavendish had seemed to get himself in the kind of position from which he has always thrived, trailing his long-time side-kick Mark Renshaw into the finish, but he was left frustrated as he failed to make the chance count. “Messed up a good opportunity today,” he later tweeted. ”Was in a position to hit out in the sprint, perhaps be passed, but at least get a good result. But I hesitated. And the first rule of sprinting is don’t hesitate. Simple as that.”

The French rider Fabien Grellier (Direct Energy) set the tone for the 132km stage with a fast start to the day and was soon joined out in front by five other riders including Team Wiggins duo James Fouche and Rob Scott, and Scott’s fellow Briton Tom Stewart.

They led the race up Cote de Lindley and into Harrogate, where the peloton got to sample September’s Road World Championship course, and where Mark Cavendish took time on the front to wave to the dense crowds in an area where some of his family hail.

The peloton eventually swallowed the break with 10km to go, only for another little attack group to shoot off the front and disrupt the sprint teams’ plans. But when the heavens suddenly opened, the rain slowed the leaders and everyone came back together.

That produced a sprint finish which was up for grabs, and it was Zabel who moved clear to the front and stay there right to the line, winning by a length. “It was emotional for me to win today because it has been almost four years and tears came to my eyes,” Zabel said. ”It was super nice because I am normally a lead-out man and this victory gives me the belief I can win at this high level.

“I really enjoyed today. It was special to ride the circuit in Harrogate as well. It’s going to be a beautiful parcours for the World Championships, and while it will be great for the fans to watch, it’ll be hard for the riders. We’re all looking forward to it though because we know it’ll be an amazing race in September.”

Jesper Asselman, who won Thursday’s opening stage in Selby, retains the overall leader’s blue jersey heading into Saturday’s stage three which finishes in Scarborough, but so close were the first two days that this year’s Tour de Yorkshire is still wide open.