Greg Henderson takes Tour of Britain points lead as Borut Bozic wins

It was not the stage win Team Sky were looking for but the British squad finally gained some recompense for their efforts when their sprinter Greg Henderson took over the Tour of Britain green points jersey in Colchester. If the Kiwi can finish close to today's victor Borut Bozic of Slovenia tomorrow, Sky will leave this race with one major award in their pockets even if the overall title has eluded them. On yet another rapid stage in front of crowds of Tour de France proportions, Sky's Steve Cummings and Matt Hayman made the pace for much of the 92-mile stage, covered at almost 28mph through serried ranks of spectators in picture postcard villages such as Clare and Long Melford. The finish was decided when one rider braked on a narrow right-angled corner in the final kilometre to the finish in front of Colchester's Norman castle. That left a gap to the frontrunners, from whom HTC's Mark Renshaw launched the sprint. All cycle racing training manuals state that in an uphill finish a sprint effort should be left to the last, and Renshaw duly died, with Henderson taking over 300m out. As he too faded 50m before the line, the burly Slovenian Bozic came past in extremis to give Vacansoleil their second stage win. Together with Andre Greipel he will be a favourite tomorrow but the Dutch squad have already clinched the mountains jersey – there were only pimples in Suffolk and Essex today – and have an unassailable lead in the team prize. Race leader Michael Albasini had a relatively routine day until the final kilometre, when the Swiss crossed the line 11sec behind Henderson and Bozic and 8sec behind third placed Richie Porte. After time bonuses for the finish and intermediate sprints were taken into account, his overall lead was trimmed again. Bozic is now just 1min 5sec behind overall, and Albasani and his HTC team will have to remain vigilant in tomorrow's finale in Docklands.