The second stage should be on paper a day for the sprinters, whit Vantomme being the main favorite favorite in front of the Milka riders, Hushovd and Casper. But the rain and the strong wind could cause some splits in the pack and postpone the mass sprint for the next stage
No one broke away from the pack until the first climb of the day and Ingels grabbed some other points by finishing third, with Mandri being first at the top
The same story happened on the next climb, with Ingels taking second behind Passeron
After that we also saw the only attack for a breakaway and Kuchinski got away. But just like Ingels yesterday it was impossible for him to stay in front until the end
Behind him Milka and Highroad were leading the chase almost the entire stage for Vantomme and Hushovd
With only one rider in the breakaway the intermediate sprints became quite important as a few second could decide the GC in the end
But none of the favorites seemed interested in the bonus seconds at the first sprint and Casper took the second place, in front of Boeckmans
At the second sprint, Casper finished again second, this time in front of Cucinotta, with the favorites again not making any moves
40 kilometers before the finish, with a very high pace set by Highroad and Milka the pack split into 2 main groups. Last year's winner and second in yesterday's stage, Leif Hoste, was stuck in the second group as well as the Pokerstars and the Intesa riders
It was a matter of time for Kuchinski to be caught after Highroad and Milka's move as they were doing their best to leave the second group as far as possible
And the gap between the 2 groups was increasing with every kilometer. At the 20 kilometers banner the gap was 1 minute and 30 seconds
Even though they have almost their entire team in the second group, Pokerstars aren't working leaving that job to Intesa, while Bbox clearly aren't strong enough to help Hoste getting back
Hushovd won the last intermediate sprint of the day in front of Vantomme and Van Loocke, while Blythe missed any bonus seconds by taking fourth
That sprint proved to be quite important as the four riders got away from the others that stick with them in the front group after the split. Backstedt and a bunch of Bacardi riders were fighting to get back though
But they weren't strong enough and Vantomme led the group into the final kilometers, with Blythe taking the last position in the group
After leading in the first kilometers of the sprint, Vantomme burned himself out and he was overtaken by all the other 3 riders when they entered the last kilometer, with Hushovd looking to be the strongest
Thor Hushovd wins the second stage in De Pane even though Van Loocke was faster than him in the final meters. The Norwegian is now 40 seconds behind Blythe, who finished third in the stage
Hoste's group lost almost 3 minutes to Hushovd and Blythe and the Belgian becomes from the big favorite to take the GC home, after the first stage, only a podium candidate
