Tour of Britain: Alessandro Tonelli claims overall lead despite losing sprint finish to Cameron Mayer

Meyer, the Commonwealth Games time trial champion, edged out the Italian on the finish line after a day-long breakaway

Alessandro Tonelli celebrates becoming the race leader (PA)

The Italian Alessandro Tonelli claimed the overall lead in the Tour of Britain despite losing a sprint finish to Australian Cameron Mayer on the second stage.

Tonelli, of the Bardiani-CSF team, took a six-second time bonus on the line which meant he claimed the green jersey on the 108-mile Cranbrook to Barnstaple stage in Devon.

Meyer, the Commonwealth Games time trial champion, edged out the Italian on the finish line after a day-long breakaway.

The Michelton-Scott rider, who last claimed a road race victory in February 2015, and Tonelli had been a part of the main group which went clear in the opening nine miles.

“I’ve been here at the Tour of Britain six or seven years ago when I was caught in the last kilometre so I was hoping there was no deja vu,” Meyer said.

“I just picked my moment to go across to four guys and we had a breakaway of five. In the end it was a great bike race for me and a thrilling finish. It was a bit of a shock to take the win. We’ll see what I can do for the rest of the tour.”

New Zealander Patrick Bevan currently sits third in the overall classification, just eight seconds behind with Team Sky’s Dutchman Wout Poels leading the chasing group.

British duo Scott Davies, having taken the King of the Mountains jersey, and Hugh Carthy are both within 22 seconds of the leader.

“It was a hard stage. A group of five went early on and I just tried to sweep up the KoM points,” said Team Dimension Data’s Davies.