LeHere we are with the 2nd stage of Tour of California! As always, we have a whole bunch of favourites for the stage. According to the Cyanide-logic, we should look out for riders such as Rodriguez Oliver, Boogerd (what?), Kroon and Ignatiev on today's 155 km. hilly stage. Time will tell if Cya-logic is right.
As always, though, we have a "morning break" to look out for. Wikipedia set a high pace from the beginning, though, clearly stating they weren't going to let a lot of riders go. They were supported by the Festina team who with Hushovd high in the GC has a chance of getting the leader's jersey if Hushovd can do well on today's stage. That said, some riders were allowed to go - in fact, a total of 9 riders: Fertonani, Montana, Bernucci, Berard, Mahoric, Nydam, Le Mevel, Gautier and Podgorny. Behind them, a few riders were still ahead of the peloton after a bunch of attacks, and eventually some bridged the gap to the front group: Possoni, Mollema, Elmiger, Bazajev and Mazur, meaning that we now have a break of 14 riders, a quite serious break, actually.
Elmiger was soon dropped, though - he had zero chance of actually staying with the group whenever they hit the hills. Mazur og Bazajev were also dropped, regained contact and then dropped again. In the peloton, the lead changed quite often. Mostly, it was Wikipedia leading, but once in a while, Domina Vacanze decided to take over for no reason at all.
With 80 km. to go, the front group had a gap of 3'50 to the peloton. It soon started dropping as the chase started with Virgin, Wikipedia and Festina in front.
Over the next couple of hills, Bazajev managed to stay with the escaping group whereas his companion Mazur weren't able to hang on. Meanwhile, Elmiger was caught by the peloton, and the lead had decreased to 2'18 with 50 km. to go. It didn't look good for the break now. Surprisingly, Schwab of Domina Vacanze decided to give it a try and attack, but due to the high pace in the peloton he had no chance at all. Although it was doomed to death, he was countered by Sartasov and Kvasina - but, as said, no chance at all. At this point, there's just 1 hill left.
In front, the escapees reached the final hill, all trying to get away from each other. In the end, it didn't mean anything, though, as they all stayed together. Only rider
dropped was Bazajev who previously had had trouble with keeping up. At the top of the hill, the break still had a gap of 2'06 with just 26 kilometers left.
It's not very interesting, though, if we look at what happens behind. Sastre of the Warner Bros team finally decided to do something, and he was immediately countered by Zabriskie who was then countered by Zubeldia. That resulted in a serial of attacks, including Rodriguez Oliver, Fernandez Oliveira, Raisin and Sartasov.
In front, Fertonani had managed to get away alone, but still had Montana right behind him. The rest of the group couldn't figure out who should do the workload, so they were 'let go'. At this point with , the situation with less than 20 km. to go is:
E1: Fertonani and Montana
E2: Rest of the escapees +21
E3: Zabriskie and Sastre +52 (to E2)
E4: Zubeldia, Bazajev and Rodriguez Oliver +16 (to E3)
P: 56 riders +1'01 (to E4, 2'30 to E1)
Here we are with 7 km. to go.
Fertonani looks like a guy who will take the win of today's stage. He's 33 seconds behind, so if he keeps the pace high he will take the jersey. He's currently 44 seconds ahead of the group behind him. And the group behind him has just received a visit from Sastre and Zabriskie.
Here, the sprint has just started. Fertonani is still in front, but Zabriskie is doing everything he can to keep his jersey.
Less than 1 kilometer to go. We can see that Fertonani is still in the lead, and Berard has overtaken Zabriskie. Rodriguez and Zubeldia are coming from behind, and so is the peloton.
Fertonani takes the win, though! It's Nydam right behind him, taking 2nd.
And Possoni third with Zabriskie taking fourth, defending his jersey very, very well. Exciting and close stage today!
