Renewi Tour stage 2: Josh Tarling powers to time trial victory

Nineteen-year-old Brit Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) took an impressive victory on the stage 2 time trial of the Renewi Tour, putting in a big 14-second margin over his closest competitors on the 13.6km course.

After finishing in the bunch on stage 1, his stage win was enough to put the British national time trial champion into the race lead with three stages remaining.

Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) came closest to Tarling to take second on the stage, whilst Yves Lampaert came third.

Stage 1 winner Jasper Philipsen finished outside of the top 30, relinquishing his leader’s jersey.

Read more: Jasper Philipsen sprints to victory in chaotic finish of stage 1

Most recently coming third at the time trial World Championships, Tarling hasn’t finished outside the top three in any professional against-the-clock effort he’s completed this year, and this time has delivered his first WorldTour victory.

“It’s crazy, I’m so happy,” Tarling said at the finish. “I think we did super good in the team, they’ve been super supportive with it. I’m super happy.”

“I thought I started fast and then I heard the splits and I started panicking so I just tried to get out everything I could. I think it worked well with the win at stuff, it ended up working really good.”

Tarling enjoys long spell in the hot seat before taking the race lead

After the sprint stage on the opening day, stage 2 of the Renewi Tour offered up a 13.6km time trial around the Dutch town of Sluis. Pan-flat and relatively short, it was a day for the real specialists, and essentially a straight test of who could produce the most power and speed for 15 minutes.

Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek) set the early fastest time of 15:28, which the likes of Tobias Foss (Jumbo-Visma) and Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) all failed to beat, and the Dutchman sat in the hot seat for a long stretch. He was eventually dethroned by Tim Wellens (UAE Team ADQ) who came in nine seconds faster.

Wellens’ time didn’t stand for long, though, because young Brit Josh Tarling set a blistering pace around Sluis to clock a time of 15:05, taking a big 14-second chunk out of the previous best time. There were still more than 70 riders to finish, but the national champion and World Championships bronze medallist looked poised for a very good result.

As the second half of the field ticked by, few could come at all close to Tarling’s time, with the only result to note being Yves Lampaert who slotted into provisional third behind Wellens when he finished.

After yesterday’s flat and fast stage, all of the final riders on the start list - ordered in reverse GC ranking - were sprinters, and therefore not big challengers for the time trial. That meant it was a long wait for Tarling’s win to finally be confirmed, but eventually, the moment came when the final rider, Jasper Philipsen, crossed the line, and Tarling’s victory was sealed.

If you head to our Renewi Tour landing page, you will find everything you need to know about the race, including our race preview, the route, and start list. Check it out for all that and more.