Ben Swift admitted a little bit more patience in the final sprint could have seen him claim victory in stage two of this year’s Tour of Britain.
Having kept himself in prime position heading into the closing moments of the 200km stage, Swift made his dash for the line.
But Australia’s Mark Renshaw had ideas of his own and just pipped the Team Sky rider on the line to take victory and with it the leader’s jersey.
Swift’s second place still claimed him the points jersey and moved him up to second overall, four seconds behind Renshaw.
Swift’s teammate Sir Bradley Wiggins came home 11th and sits ten seconds back on the yellow jersey while Mark Cavendish, who was still feeling the after effects of his stage one crash, finished back in 34th place.
And while happy to claim the points jersey early on in the race, Swift revealed the main aim was get Wiggins in position to challenge for the overall win.
“The finish was quite a tough one with a bit of a dangerous descent. You needed to be at the front and that’s where we were,” he said.
“I just mistimed the sprint and went a little bit too early. We knew it was a bit of a tailwind finish but I could have waited for 50 or 100 metres more.
“I’ve got the points jersey now but our main goal this week is to try and win the yellow jersey with Bradley Wiggins.
“He’s shown that he’s in great form. Tomorrow is going to be the big test so we’ll see how we handle that.”
© Sportsbeat 2014