Henderson bags stage win and leader's jersey in Tour of Britain

New Zealand cyclist Greg Henderson has grabbed the yellow jersey after a superb win on stage 2 of the Tour of Britain at Stoke-on-Trent today.

Henderson, with a big push from his Team Sky, claimed the victory after a breakaway just 15kms after the start of the 160km stage.

"I had a fantastic team with me, they rode the front for me right the way through to the line," Henderson told reporters after the win.

"I knew the finish from a couple of years ago so I waited and waited for as long as possible. No one had come with 300 metres to go so I just jumped as hard as I could knowing that I could open up a gap and I just held that to the line. It’s a nice treat to be in the yellow jersey and we'll have a go at defending it now."

It was an excellent birthday present for the New Zealander who turned 34 at the start of the Tour.

It is also good news for the BikeNZ camp with Henderson set to be one of their spearheads for next month’s world championships in Melbourne and the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, both tipped to favour the sprinters.

The break came early on in the start and was not pulled pack, despite the grou including key Team Sky hopes for general classification, Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas.

The pressure went on as a number of leading lights dropped off and after the final of three climbs were negotiated, Wiggins and Thomas set up their sprinter for the stage victory.

This adds to a number of night quality stage wins for the New Zealander including the Vuelta a Espana, criterium at Tour Downunder, Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya.

The team face a challenge to defend the leader’s jersey as the Tour heads to more serious climbs in Wales tomorrow.

Results Stage two, Stoke-on-Trent, 160.5km: Greg Henderson (NZ - Team Sky) 3 hours 59 minutes 52 seconds, 1; Michael Albasini (Swi - HTC-Columbia) same time, 2; Heinrich Haussler (Aus - Cervelo) st, 3.

General classification: Greg Henderson (NZ - Team Sky) 7hrs 16mins 23secs, 1. Michael Albasini (Swi - HTC-Columbia at 14sec, 2; Heinrich Haussler (Aus - Cervelo) same time, 3.