Evan Oliphant wins Tour of the Reservoir

Team Raleigh's Evan Oliphant took victory in the Tour of the Reservoir Two-Day in Northumberland, sneaking off the front of the race to win stage two and snatch the overall win too.

The 31-year-old from Edinburgh crossed the line just a handful of seconds clear of the rest, but it was enough to take the overall victory from under the noses of the UK Youth team and secure his first Premier Calendar race win since the 2006 Ryedale Grand Prix.

"It's brilliant to get the win today," he said. "The other boys in the team rode for me all day, and it paid off so I'm happy. Hopefully now I can carry on and win the series.

"The first stage was really hard and there were plenty of tired legs today, you could tell because it was splitting up a lot. But I was pretty confident and knew I had something left at the end.

"It's brilliant to win the Reservoir. I've been up here in this race quite a few times but never managed to pull off a win."

Following Chris Opie's victory in the opening stage on Saturday, Team UK Youth had done their best to preserve his overall lead, marshalling every move and attack made from the bunch during the gruelling 104-mile final stage.

But in the closing few miles Oliphant escaped, and held out by around 15 seconds to take the stage win and the overall.

Having finished in the leading group of Saturday's opening stage, the affable Scot had done just enough to overhaul Opie, who finished second in stage two and second overall, while IG Sigma Sport's Pete Hawkins was similarly third on both the final stage and the general classification.

Tour of the Reservoir Two-Day.-

Stage two.-

1 Evan Oliphant (Team Raleigh)

2 Chris Opie (Team UK Youth)

3 Peter Hawkins (IG Sigma Sport)

Final overall.-

1 Evan Oliphant (Team Raleigh)

2 Chris Opie (Team UK Youth)

3 Peter Hawkins (IG Sigma Sport)

Tour of the Reservoir

Evan Oliphant wins the final stage

Evan Oliphant tops the final podium

Related links

Tour of the Reservoir day two photo gallery

Tour of the Reservoir stage one photo gallery by Andy Jones

Chris Opie wins Tour of Reservoir opener

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