The maybe trickiest flat stage here, even though those short climbs may appear steeper than they are. Anyway, it's indeed everything but a panflat profile and riders like Vitoria or Sweeting may fancy their chances.
So will race-leader JJ Haedo, who's team crushed the competition in yesterday's opener. A stage like today's suits him as well, so he's definitely the top-favorite for a bunch sprint.
With already about 30km into the stage, two small breakaway groups join each other to build a 5-men-group leading by just 1'00" on the peloton:
Ochoa, Sai-Udomsin, Dyadichkin, Cerny and Joeaar
Except of Sai-Udomsin and Cerny we've three riders who already lost minutes in the opener and now try to go for a breakaway success.
And - maybe more important (as the group is still not too far in the lead) - the group will battle for the first and only KoM-sprint today. So who's going to wear the mountain-shirt tomorrow?
KoM #1 (Cat3)
Dyadichkin
Sai-Udomsin
Cerny
The strongest climber takes the sprint, while Joeaar is dropped in that sprint and will be reeled in by the bunch a few moments later!
Even worse news for Joeaar: the escapees are then finally allowed to go for a more comfortable - while still not huge - gap and the four riders reach the first Intermediate Sprint with a 2'00"-lead:
Sprint #1
Sai-Udomsin
Cerny
Dyadichkin
So the two riders, who can actually hope for a nice jump in GC even with no breakaway success, take this sprint. Easy one for Udomsin.
The peloton - led by Azteca, Bank of Ireland and ONCE - still looks in total control: halfway through the race (71km remaining) the bunch is just 2'34" in arrears and keeps a consistent pace.
It's business as usual now, as the peloton goes for an even higher pace in order to pull the escapees back. We make a jump into the final 30km and the two last climbs makes the escaping group go into pieces:
Cerny and Sai-Udomsin drop their companions, while the bunch narrowed the gap to 1'10" in the meantime and Bissinger tries a late move, jumping away from the pack!
The new leading-duo enters the final 20km with still the same gap on the chasing bunch and 25" on Bissinger/Dyadichkin.. do they stand a chance to hold the peloton off today?
At least it's enough to go for the second Intermediate and it's again Sai-Udomsin, who collects 12 bonus-seconds today:
Sprint #2
Sai-Udomsin
Cerny
Bissinger
It's getting closer behind, though: the peloton - now led by In'n Out, Ireland and Nordeus - swallowed the other escaping groups and is just 30" behind the leading duo with now 12km to go!
The mix of a high pace through the whole day and a tricky profile now also leads to a major split in the peloton, where 48 riders lose contact. Most notable names are:
So except of Mobil's duo, some sprinters obviously had bad legs or positioning today. Especially Vitoria is quite a surprise, even though he already was quite disappointing yesterday.
The teams at the very front won't mind and with 9km remaining, the last two escapees are swallowed by this 71-men-bunch, which will prepare for the sprint now.
Still the same teams at the front: Ireland, Nordeus, Azteca, In'n Out..
3.5km to go and this time it's Bank of Ireland, which moves into the leading position with it's train (Harrison/Hawkins/Drapac).
Right behind Azteca with still 3 domestiques to support JJ Haedo. Behind Nordeus can't really set a train for Schinker and the battle for the righ wheel is on!
A crash! Something you never want to happen that late in the race: Haga crashes in a corner! Horrible news for the team, as the US boy is considered a real threat for the GC-fight. With the pace being brutal, he's likely to lose some time today though..
Not much time to cry a river for Haga though, as we now witness the crucial moments for the bunch sprint. 2km to go and with no dominating train like Azteca yesterday, it looks like a pure battle between today's fastest:
Hawkins Drapac LS Haedo JJ Haedo Kulhavy
have a small advantage as Hawkins kicks off his leadout for Drapac.
still in a good position, trying to keep the leading five's wheel(s)..
Hawkins did his work for Drapac, who now kicks just under the kite! JJ Haedo couldn't stay right at his wheel, but moves forward as well.
Behind it's LS Haedo missing the maybe crucial kick by Drapac, while Schinker accelerates and moves forward from the left side!
Drapac with a three bike-advantage on JJ Haedo now! Schinker overtook LS Haedo, who seems to find back to his speed now though! Rather huge gaps between the top-trio..
And Drapac takes out the second stage in style! A dominating win for the Aussie, who had the best train and a perfect timing to kick off his sprint!
A few moments later, Schinker sprinted for 2nd place thanks to an impressive speed on the final km! Race-leader JJ Haedo lungs in for 3rd and bonus-seconds, that will make him stay in orange.
LS Haedo 4th, while another metres behind Sweeting had the best sprint to complete the Top-5 eventually.
3'08" later, the dropped group with Haga crosses the line. That's quite a loss for Haga (and some other climbers like Vasquez or Adamou), who might have hoped for a shot at the GC. Still a few days to come though.
