Owain Doull continued Britain’s run of top-ten finishes at the Tour de l’Avenir with fifth place on stage two on Monday.

The 21-year-old Welshman contested the sprint finish in Saint-Galmier after a 142.6-kilometre stage from Brioude as Australia’s Caleb Ewan took the victory.

"5th today at lavenir, legs starting to come around after the crash in the prologue. Cheers to the lads for the help," Doull tweeted.

The result comes on the back of Dan McLay’s seventh and fourth in the prologue and first stage respectively.

Tao Geoghegan Hart was the next Briton over the line in 37th, in a group which included Scott Davies (47th) and Daniel Pearson (67th), seven seconds back from Ewan.

Jake Kelly finished 104th, over four minutes back and after two strong displays Dan McLay suffered, losing over six minutes in 118th place.

"Nice ride by @owaindoull today for 5th. I was on empty after having a bit of stomach bother. Hopefully all good for the flat day tomorrow," McLay tweeted.

France’s Loic Chetout and Switzerland’s Fabian Lienhard had formed the day’s break as the stage took riders over three categorised climbs.

After the opening third-category Cote de la Chaise-dieu, the duo’s advantage over the peloton was three minutes and 50 seconds.

But after the Cote de Medeyrolles and Cote De la Chaulme, the gap began to fall and with 18km remaining stood at just 90 seconds.

With eight kilometres to go Chetout and Lienhard were caught with Ewan coming out on top of the bunch sprint.