Oscar Onley raced to second place atop the mountain finish on stage 2 of the Sazka Tour after an active stage for Development Team DSM which saw Moritz Kärsten in the day’s breakaway.

The 189.3 kilometre stage featured four categorised climbs before the final ascent to the finish in Pustevny and presented a tough test that would most likely shake up the GC after yesterday’s opening stage. Having initially missed the break which stuck, Kärsten set off in pursuit and bridged over making it four riders at the front of the race – a break the peloton was more than happy to give a large advantage to of up to seven minutes. However, as soon as the climbing commenced mid-stage the gap started to fall and the leading group splintered with Kärsten finding himself in a chase with one other behind a solo leader.

The race eventually all came back together before the final climb to the finish at which stage Develoment Team DSM had Onley, Lorenzo Milesi and Max Poole still in contention. As the final kilometres ticked by the front of the race was whittled down with Onley and Poole making the front group before sprinting to second and sixteenth on the stage.

After the finish Onley said: “Today was a pretty relaxed day for us, Moritz did a great job getting in the break and taking the pressure off us in the bunch. All the boys were fully committed for myself and Max positioning us and looking after us all day. Lorenzo did the last bit of positioning into the final climb then it was up to the legs. Myself and Max made a select front group where I sprinted to second. Tomorrow is going to be another big day and we’ll see what we can do.”

Team DSM coach Boris Zimine added: “At the end we had two goals to day, first to have someone in the break and then for those not in the break to be around Oscar and Max for the final climb. With Moritz in the break we were in a good position and it’s the second day that he has had a really good day. When he was caught with 40 kilometres to go he was still able to help the guys before the end. Then on the last climb, Pavel and Lorenzo did a really good job for Oscar and Max after which Oscar finished second but really not far from the win. It’s another really big step for him and a strong display all round from the team.”