The 2nd 'flat' stage of the race. What do you mean, it's not flat?
Okay, yes. There are 10 KoM primes on the road from Ajacio to Bonifaccio and it certainly won't be an easy flat stage. Ben Swift clearly has his team working for him, and theres no danger of his Mehr-Wenige/Paterski leadout struggling in the hills - so long as he himself makes it over in good shape.
But if Yuri Trofimov can win Stage 1, he surely is now the favourite for today. Although Ventoso has a point to prove after not quite delivering what he had hoped yesterday. And then there is Cunego...
Just like Stage 1, the first to attack is Kevin Lalouette. 6 follow and seem to be going clear, but Pendleton's Twicer arent happy.
Clearly the King of the Mountains jersey is a target for them. Duret leads that competition, and though he may be wearing the Green jersey and lying 2nd overall, this is a stage where a strong haul of points can really help in the KoM competition. Cummings is leading him across to the break.
But the peloton are really pushing on this early climb. Trofimov lies 2nd wheel as Pauwels sets a strong tempo. Uran and Vesuvio are also being attentive here as the peloton stretches at this unexpected start.
There is even a split at one point. 60 ahead, 115 behind - with Spilak at the front of those 115.
The break make it to the climb 1st. And of course, Duret makes sure to take maximum points.
1
S. Duret
2
T. De Gendt
3
LY. Bak
The pace settles in the peloton. Nestle take over with team leader Karpets actually relaying!
The break is away though, and the full list of names is:
J. Ghyselinck
T. De Gendt
S. Duret
S. Cummings
M. Priamo
D. Muravjev
LY. Bak
S. Cohnen
K. Lalouette
Climb number 2 is the Col de Scalella. One of two higher category climbs today that offers points down to 7th - with 16th for the first at the summit.
1
S. Duret
2
T. De Gendt
3
LY. Bak
4
J. Ghyselinck
5
S. Cohnen
6
K. Lalouette
7
M. Priamo
Its a tricky descent in the rain though. 2 crashes in the peloton, in separate incidents. F. Perez Sanchez I. Abakoumov
And onto the 3rd KoM - Col de Ciano. The expected does not happen! Duret does not go for it, so the 6 points for first goes elsewhere.
1
K. Lalouette
2
LY. Bak
3
T. De Gendt
At the sprint, Duret is still interested - although he can't beat Bak.
1
LY. Bak
2
S. Duret
3
K. Lalouette
10 points for first at the next KoM, will Duret be back to leading over? Nope. Lalouette, De Gendt and Ghyselinck can battle it out without his interference.
1
K. Lalouette
2
T. De Gendt
3
J. Ghyselinck
4
S. Cummings
5
S. Cohnen
And again on KoM#5, where the break leads the peloton by 6 minutes with 110km to go.
1
K. Lalouette
2
T. De Gendt
3
J. Ghyselinck
As things stand, Duret leads the KoM standings with 44 but he is being caught. De Gendt now up to 29, with Lalouette on 25.
Crash in the peloton, and it's a 2nd Wiggle incident in 2 days. Kritskiy this time - and not great timing with the pace picking up. A number of weak climbers are dropped as we take on the longest climb of the day - the Col de Tana.
Kritskiy climbs well though, navigating past the rider obstacle to get back in touch with the peloton. Probably means he isnt injured either.
16 points for the top of the climb then. Who will go for it?
1
K. Lalouette
2
T. De Gendt
3
LY. Bak
4
J. Ghyselinck
5
S. Duret
6
S. Cohnen
7
S. Cummings
Winning his 4th KoM prime of the day, Lalouette goes level with De Gendt and their gap to Duret is now reduced to just 9 points.
Shortly afterwards comes the Col de Vidola, with 5 points on offer.
1
S. Duret
2
K. Lalouette
3
T. De Gendt
So Duret is back in the game!
78km to go, and the break leads by 4 minutes. But after the long descent, thats down to 2'30 with 52km to go. Cancellara attacks.
At the 8th KoM, Lalouette beats Duret in a head to head battle.
1
S. Duret
2
K. Lalouette
3
T. De Gendt
Ghyselinck and Priamo are dropped from the break, while in the peloton, Perez Sanchez is feeling the effects of his earlier crash and is dropped too. Thats a blow for Cunego to seemingly lose the strong climbing attributes of the Spaniard for support.
Cancellara soon makes it to the break and their tired legs cant match his, he easily takes KoM # 9.
1
F. Cancellara
2
S. Cohnen
3
S. Duret
Vesuvio are chasing hard - including Rigoberto Uran in their efforts. And the break's days are numbered.
20km to go:
There will be no heroic last stand from Duret today, but having bridged to the break, Danny Summerhill now pushes clear - with Muravjev and Cancellara following.
Despite being in the break all day, Muravjev proves to be strongest in these late attacks. But with 10km to go, Vesuvio have it all under control.
The last KoM is with 6.6km to go, and it is Uran who takes it.
1
R. Úran
2
J. Hoogerland
3
A. Moinard
Duret has therefore done enough to retain the KoM jersey.
But that climb was a struggle for Swift, who has fallen back a little from his position on the back of the Vesuvio train. Trofimov is there now.
Swift is forced to fight his way forward in the wind to get back up to Mehr-Wenige and Paterski.
Video of the closing stages: (Otherwise ignore and read on)
As it stands, those in the Vesuvio train instead are:
M. Sieberg
Y. Trofimov
D. Summerhill
F. Cancellara
M. Van Stayen
But as you might have noticed in the 10km to go video, one sprinter definately missing is Vanderbiest - and the problem for Pearl is that the whole team has waited, including GC leader Peter Velits. Time will be lost today.
Up front again, and Sieber is not relinquishing the wheel of Paterski, but Swift appears to have got himself behind Sieberg now - pushing out Trofimov as we hit 3km to go.
On Swift's wheel are:
F. Ventoso
D. Impey
M. Kreder
R. Granjel Cabrera
T. Phinney
While two more are on the back of the Trofimov train.
D. Vitoria
I. Bibby
Paterski opens the sprint inside the final 2km.
Sieberg can't hold Paterski's wheel, and worse for Vesuvio, Swift cant even hold Sieberg's wheel - too much effort taken up getting over the hills it seems. But right there are Trofimov and Summerhill.
As Swift goes backwards, Ventoso waits a little too long before launching out past Sieberg too, in pursuit. Its actually another slight uphill finish here.
Once again Trofimov has got himself into the perfect position, he jumps past Paterski and Summerhill can only watch
Two stages out of two for Yuri Trofimov! A perfect start
Ventoso comes through for 2nd - he could perhaps have challenged Trofimov in a head to head battle - while Wikipedia take 3rd and 4th with Summerhill and Phinney.
Its a real battle of the GC men to show early signs of form here, as Dekker edges Cunego for 5th. Swift comes in down in 34th - a wasted effort for Vesuvio.
Just 92 left in the peloton on this stage. Poor tactics means that Velits loses 6'35 on all of his rivals.
It could be worse though. 8 riders finished outside the time limit, so their race is over after just 2 days! Most notable is Carmeuse's pure climber Oscar Solis - who has finished this race on 4 previous occasions, and was 42nd last year. Danish champion Riber-Sellebjerg is also gone.
