Stage 2, and there's no time to rest for the overall contenders after yesterday's hilly prologue. It's another hilly stage, this time it's 186 kilometers long, and of course, it's a road race today. Favourites for the stage must be Bakelants Boasson Hagen
They're the only two real puncheurs here, at least when talking about world class, and they must fancy their chances for a stage win, and maybe the yellow jersey.
It looks like France has decided to save the nice weather for July, the riders wake up to rain, clouds and a cold breeze from the sea. Judging by the weather, it could have been a Belgium cobbled classic, but it’s definitely not. Let the stage begin!
Jack Wolfskin wasn’t happy with Plaza’s performance yesterday, and it quickly shows. Rosseler
attacks once the flag is waved, the race is on. He’s followed by Mancuso
The peloton was happy to let both of them go, and they quickly build a lead of more than 2 minutes. It looks like they’re safe out in front, but Fedrigo Tiernan-Locke
disagree, and attack when the front duo has a lead of 2’30.
4 riders up front were 2 too many for the peloton, and they quickly start to take back time on the early attackers. The gap is no more than 40 seconds, when Gastauer Brolin Bookwalter Machado
and forum star & superhero Richard Cleaver
join them up front. The gap is still getting smaller, and it looks like Cleaver and the 8 others won’t have a long time to shine.
The focus of the 9 up front is clearly to build a gap back to the peloton, and the first 5 points on offer in the King of the Mountains competition isn’t contested. rolls over first, ahead of Mancuso (Bacardi) and Tiernan-Locke (Wiggle). Machado
rolls over first, he's followed by Mancuso Tiernan-Locke
Serrano
and Santander didn't want to miss this move, and Serrano used the early slopes of the climb to catch the breakaway, which means there are 10 riders up in front now..
50 kilometers is raced, and the race is about to settle. But an interesting move from Milka, who sends Vysna and yesterday’s stage winner, and overall leader, Coppel, up the road, probably means another round of chasing back in the peloton. Flecha
follows Vysna and Coppel.
But strange enough, the peloton doesn’t look worried about having the race leader ahead of them. With 127 kilometers left, and at the top of the first big climb of the day, the 10 up front have a lead of 4’20 back to the peloton. Coppel’s group is 2’55 ahead of the peloton and 1’25 behind the lead group.
And there it is. Coppel
is at the very front of the race. That’s afterall the best place to be if you’re going to defend a jersey, but there’s 108 kilometers left. Their lead is 6’20.
The 2nd of today’s KoM prizes is, just like the first, not contested. And once again, Machado
leads the breakaway over the top. Machado also took the first intermediate sprint, which, just like the KoM prizes, wasn’t contested. Coppel is sitting at the back of the group, saving his power, their lead is 7’50 with 94 kilometers left. The peloton will need to gear up if they want to catch the 13 brave riders.
86 kilometers to go, and the third KoM prize is up for grab, but there’s still no one that really wants it it seems. Gastauer
rolls over, ahead of Bookwalter Machado
The peloton splits on the 3rd climb where KoM points were on offer. Solid climbers like Solis Costagli
is on the wrong side of the split.
The pack controls the breakaway well, and the gap is reduced to 5’40. Bakelants
decides it’s a bit boring to just sit and watch them being caught, and he attacks with 65 kilometers left. Yes, you read it right, there are 65 kilometers left, and the biggest favourite of the day attacks. Hagen
finds out it’s too dangerous to let Bakelants go, and he follows the attack.
The peloton finds it way too dangerous to let 2 superstars like Bakelants and Hagen go away, and they chase them back with 60 kilometers to go. The gap to the breakaway is now 5 minutes, and Coppel is still doing nothing at the front.
Bakelants
is really "in the mood" today, and he goes for it once again. This time no one is able/wants to follow him, and he’s off on his own, which probably means 55 kilometers of individual riding for him.
The peloton controls him well though. His gap is only 40 seconds with 43 kilometers left. The gap to the breakaway is 3’20, meaning the peloton has controlled a strange stage very well so far.
38 kilometers are left of the stage, and some of the overall favourites decide it's time to make a name of themselves in this year's edition of Dauphine Libere. Taaramäe Kashechkin
are inspired by Bakelants, who’s able to hold on ahead of the peloton, and they attack.
Boasson Hagen doesn't want to miss the fun, and attacks away from the peloton. He quickly makes contact with Taaramäe and Kashechkin, but they’re no more than 25 seconds ahead of the peloton.
And with 28 kilometers left, wild card team Saab makes the catch for their leader Löfkvist
Where’s Bakelants you might ask? Well, he’s riding with his heart, and has been able to extend his lead over the peloton. He’s 57 seconds ahead, 51 seconds behind the front 13. What a ride so far, will he be able to finish it off in the final 28 kilometers?
It doesn’t look like it, he’s about to be caught with 18 kilometers left. But luckily for Bakelants, the road gets steeper, and he launches another attack! What a rider, riding with his heart, not his brain today, it seems.
And with 16 kilometers left of the stage, the fun is over for both the breakaway and Bakelants. This stage is really wide open now, the two pre-race favourites have used a lot of energy, just to still sit in the peloton, will we see a surprising winner today?
Hagen Coppel
show interest in the bonifications given with 14 kilometers left. Hagen takes 6 of them, Coppel grabs 4. You can’t blame Coppel for not defending his jersey!
Festina hammers the pace for Contador with 11 kilometers left. Serpa has been dropped due to a split earlier, but that doesn’t look to reduce Contador’s support today. The peloton is stretching, Serpa is the most notable rider missing, and a couple of the big guns are placed on the back of the peloton. Uran Amador Plaza Dekker
all need to improve their position before we hit the final climb of the day.
The climb starts with 8 kilometers left. And they immediately hit gradients of 11%, Wyss
grabs his opportunity and attacks immediately! And pre-stage favourite Bakelants follows, looks like he got a long enough rest.
Wyss doesn’t last long, and Bakelants “attacking mate” of the day, Boasson Hagen
goes for it. He blasts past Wyss, and picks up the chase for Bakelants.
6,6 kilometers left, and Wyss
was clearly not empty, and followed Hagen’s move. But then defending champion Spilak
flies past them both! Great acceleration, but he will need to keep his momentum, Bakelants is 32 seconds up the road.
Contador
attacks just as we’re about to reach the top of the climb. Dekker
wouldn’t like to miss this move, and tries to follow Contador.
Bakelants
leads as they’re starting the descent, with 5600 meters left, but it isn’t by much! Will Hagen Spilak
manage to catch him? And will the peloton manage to catch them all?
Contador managed to gap Dekker on the climb, and now he’s chasing desperately for the stage win. Dekker has been companied by Barredo
who’s cleverly marking Dekker for his captain, Spilak, who’s up the road together with Hagen.
And a strong chase by Spilak sees him and Hagen catch Bakelants. It looks like it’s going to be decided in a sprint for the line.
The front 3 look safe, as Contador
isn’t able to take time on the descent. Actually he’s loosing time to them, now he’s 37 seconds behind, and Dekker Barredo
are closing.
The sprint doesn’t start before there’s 800 meters left. Spilak
quickly shows he has most left in the tank, and his acceleration is superior to Hagen’s and Bakelants’. Will he hold on for the stage win, and possibly the yellow jersey?
Spilak
can celebrate his win, and the yellow jersey. A superb performance from him. Bakelants
riding with his heart all day long, takes 2nd, and Hagen goes third.
Contador
crosses the line about half a minute behind, in 4th. But it looks like he could get a couple of seconds on the other favourites, as he has managed to keep a decent gap back to the others.
To make Warner Brothers' day perfect, Barredo outsprints Dekker for 5th.
Pavarin takes the sprint in the peloton, for 7th, just ahead of Phinney Coppel
The peloton splitted on the descent, and there’s only 20 riders in the group that comes home in the same time as Pavarin. A group of 22 riders follows next, with notable riders like Uran Arroyo Menchov in it. They’ve lost a minute on the group of Coppel and Phinney, and almost 2 minutes to the front three.
