Downing battles in Belgium

Team Sky were right in the mix again on stage two of the Tour de Wallonie with Russell Downing sprinting to fourth place in Saintes.

Van Dijk takes stage and yellow jersey

Team Sky were right in the mix again on stage two of the Tour de Wallonie with Russell Downing sprinting to fourth place in Saintes. The Yorkshireman had played a key role in Greg Henderson's third-placed finish on Saturday, but took centre stage this time around and was only narrowly denied at the line by stage winner Stefan van Dijk (Verandas Willems), Kris Boeckmans (Topsport Vlaanderenan) and Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil). Van Dijk's victory also ensured he took over the yellow jersey from Danilo Napolitano, despite there being nothing to split the two riders in the overall standings. Henderson, meanwhile, dropped from fourth to ninth. Olivier Kaisen (Omega Pharma), Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport), Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil), Fabio Polazzi (Willems Verandas) and Julien Berard (Ag2r) had brought the stage to life by moving clear of the bunch soon after they exited Braine-le-Comte, and they still had almost eight minutes on their pursuers 80km from the line. That advantage would fall quickly though as Katusha, Quick-Step and Cofidis joined forces at the head of the peloton and everyone was back together soon after they had passed under the 10km to go banner. The rain which had been threatening never materialised as they entered the destination town and it was on the wide closing straight that Van Dijk made his decisive move down the left before taking his victory by a hair's breadth.

Condition key

Team Sky's sports director Steven de Jongh felt the stage had been another productive one and is predicting another strong showing on Monday's 180.2km trek from Andenne to Hotton. He said: "It was a typically-strong showing from Russell and he was one of several riders who were spread out along the finish line. "It's obviously nice to be up there, but as I said on Saturday, the most important thing for us is to get some competition practice ahead of the Tour of Poland and the other races in August, and that's what we're doing. "Everybody is getting the rhythm back in the legs and there have been no problems at all. "Tomorrow's stage is going to be far hillier. I think there about seven or eight tricky climbs to overcome and it will be an interesting stage. I'm expecting a decisive move to come on one of those and I think only a select bunch of riders will contest it at the finish line. "We're not planning to put anyone in the breakaway but we will definitely be keeping alert throughout the day and it could be one that suits Mat [Hayman] or Nicolas [Portal]." Stage two result: 1 - Stefan van Dijk - (NED) - Verandas Willems - (4:57:02)
2 - Kris Boeckmans - (BEL) - Topsport Vlaanderen - (same time)
3 - Borut Bo¿ic - (SLO) - Vacansoleil - (same time)
4 - Russell Downing - (ENG) - Team Sky - (same time)
5 - Wouter Weylandt - (BEL) - Quick-Step - (same time)
6 - Gert Steegmans - (BEL) - RadioShack - (same time)
7 - Jens Keukeleire - (BEL) - Cofidis - (same time)
8 - Danilo Wyss - (SUI) - BMC Racing - (same time)
9 - Davy Commeyne - (BEL) - Landbouwkrediet - (same time)
10 - Mathew Hayman - (AUS) - Team Sky - (same time)
Overall standings: 1 - Stefan van Dijk - (NED) - Verandas Willems - (9:25:25)
2 - Danilo Napolitano - (ITA) - Katyusha - (same time)
3 - Wouter Weylandt - (BEL) - Quick-Step - (+2)
4 - Pieter Vanspeybrouck - (BEL) - Topsport Vlaanderen - (+2)
5 - Kris Boeckmans - (BEL) - Topsport Vlaanderen - (+4)
6 - Steven Van Vooren - (BEL) - Topsport Vlaanderen - (+4)
7 - Julien Bérard - (FRA) - AG2R - (+5)
8 - Borut Bo¿ic - (SLO) - Vacansoleil - (+6)
9 - Greg Henderson - (NZL) - Team Sky - (+6)
10 - Olivier Kaisen - (BEL) - Omega Pharma-Lotto - (+6)