The second stage is looking promising. In especially the final circuit with a tough hill climb looks like it could make a first decision in the overall. The favourites need to be concentrated today to avoid any time loss.
Yesterdays winner Gavazzi showed a nice form and within all the sprinters he belongs to the best puncheurs, so it will be interesting to see if he can defend the lead.
We directly jump to the first intermediate sprint as no breakaway was able to get a decent gap. The 5 riders who are just trying decide this sprint. Eichler ahead of Zingle and Vichot again. The Frenchman was already in the breakaway yesterday and will try to defend his KoM lead.
And as the peloton calmed down finally we can present the break of the day:
Vichot (Vueling)
Zingle (Bpost)
Eichler (Sram)
Dyrnes (Risa)
Hayakawa (Jap-Kor)
With Sram in the group they might avoid to work behind for Haussler. Or do they think it`s too hard for him today?
Team UPC has everything under control with their young talents Groenewegen, Van Poppel and Teunissen. Behind them just like yesterday the Adira-Isq Project for Mehr-Wenige. They really want to prove their quality against all the bigger teams but actually UPC is doing 100% of the work right now.
Vichot tried it too early on the KoM sprint and was overtaken by the others in the end. Zingle takes the 10 points ahead of Dyrnes, Eichler, Vichot and Hayakawa, who struggled a lot there. This means we have an equalized lead in the KoM ranking now.
80km left and almost 6min gap. Time for the GC teams to do something and support UPC. It`s mainly Cisco again as also Swedbank for the first time. Ben Hermans is their leader and while he is a powerhorse on the flat, which gives him a nice advantage he doesn`t really belong to the very best puncheurs. Still a top 10 isn`t out of reach for the Belgium.
Hayakawa seems to found this legs again and wins the next sprint ahead of Eichler and Vichot. These can be important bonus seconds in the end.
It`s actually 65km left and not 5km. But this means we have reached the hardest part of todays stage. 3 laps and a 4th climb to the finish remain and the most interesting part begins. They still have 4'40 left.
It`s just the first of four climbs but we already see a huge part of the peloton with a gap. And it will be hard to close this one again.
Within these most sprinters such as Kreder, Hutarovych, Docker, former winner Arashiro, Borrajo, Haidar Anuawar, Peeters, Manan, Sutton and Teruel.
Sprinters left in the first group are race leader Gavazzi, Haussler, Davis, Feillu, Bole, Reimer, Bennett, Kump and Feillu.
40km left and the gap is down to 3min while the sprinter gruppetto is already more than 4min behind. Paulinho is doing a brilliant job right now for Adira with Jaguar`s Teklit supporting him from time to time. The peloton is working very well together and many teams are part of the chasing work, so this is a bad sign for the breakaway.
We already passed the 2nd "final" climb and on a short climb afterwards we see the first attack. Evian`s Rocchetti is trying it with 33km to go. This is an early move.
The attack actually looks quite powerful and so more riders attack. Sauber`s Schurter and Amex`s 2012 Fleche Wallone winner Chavanel try to join him.
Same for Barrio (CSC). While Costa stays with the best puncheurs in the pack CSC is playing out their tactical advantage of two possible leaders.
This leads to another huge split with another 35 riders falling back. Within these 3rd Overall Van der Lijke, last years winner Allan Davis, 2nd big sprinter Heinrich Haussler and also a disappointing Martin Reimer, who was expected to stay longer.
So last sprinters left are Gavazzi, who is fighting for the lead and surprisingly Romain Feillu (Bpost). This shows how hard the stage is and some sprinters surely know, that it is smarter to fall back and safe their energy for the easier stages to come instead of totally exhausting with a small chance on the overall.
Last climb before the final one. The breakway is still working well together but you can already see 2 small groups and the peloton in the background.
Schurter
De Maar
Breakaway
< 1'55 >
Barrio
< 0'21 >
Kump
< 0'16 >
Peloton
Chavanel
Rocchetti
Seeing that Gavazzi seems to feel good today the other teams let them work again. Priamo, Knees and Oelerich are good helpers today and do the pace now.
20km left and we reach the last kilometer for the second last time. The two small groups in between came together and form a strong group, that shouldn`t be underestimated.
And we also have the first sign of Oz Cycling. The crowd goes crazy of course when Giovanni Visconti jumps out of the peloton.
More riders fall back like yesterdays breakaway participant Ortega (6th) which makes it a peloton of only 60 now.
Visconti is joined by Ben Hermans now in the hunt for the 6 rider group and still the former breakaway of course.
On the flatter part they catch the group and with only 48s to the breakaway we see Hermans accelerating again overtaking the group of puncheurs easily to chase them solo.
He obviously has good legs which explains their earlier work.
16km left and for the first time the big favourites react. Efimkin with a strong attack followed by Barredo and Proni but this only leads to more riders falling back and all groups are back together but the breakaway with still 1min gap. Strong fight by all of them.
11km left and more attacks. For the first time race leader Gavazzi is within them which is a good sign for UPC as he seems to feel well. De Maar, Schurter, Rocchetti and Visconti are the others but again the peloton is still too strong for them.
9km and still 45s for the 47 riders left in the peloton where Hudecek is doing all the work alone now for Sram. Obviously Wegmann is their rider today.
1km later it`s again Ben Hermans with a strong attack followed by Efimkin. Will this attack have more success? So far the hills aren`t looking hard enough to create any gaps today.
Dowsett himself is bringing them back. The Brit has been pretty invisible so far but on the other hand has saved more energy than the others. The breakaway will be caught soon now that it is going uphill for the last time.
You can see also Mehr-Wenige and Costa in an excellent position.
5km left and we have two new leaders. Betancourt and Puusepp used the short moment when the breakaway was caught and attack.
But Mehr-Wenige is showing his qualities and brings them back. No rider has any helper left in the first rows so it`s up to themselves to take care for the chasing.
One kilometer left and one thing is sure. We won`t have huge gaps. The more important are the bonus seconds today as also the stage win of course.
Costa is having the perfect position finding the gap and is leading now with Taborre and not Efimkin next to him. Last one is a bit blocked behind Mehr-Wenige on the right. Also Betancourt, Barrio, Visconti, Puusepp, Dowsett, Hatanaka, Hermans, Hudecek and Gerrans are in the first rows.
Costa and Taborre still lead the race but Dowsett and also Efimkin coming fast from behind as they finally found the gap.
Costa went too early as Dowsett takes the lead with Efimkin trying to come ahead on the inner side.
And Dowsett can`t stop him. Aleksandr Efimkin wins the 2nd stage and takes important bonus seconds. Costa is rewarded by his early move with the 3rd ahead of a very strong Hudecek today.
41 riders in todays first group which means that Gavazzi will keep his lead but within the same time as Efimkin. The decision will most likely fall on the 5th stage up the Willunga Hill.
But we have also a few losers of today. HTC`s De Maar was pretty active during the stage but lost contact in the end as also Pivovarna`s Bole. Both are losing 50s. But the big loser must be Martin Reimer. He really had an awful day and so Vueling is without real leader here. At least Vichot fought to keep contact today and is provisional 4th right now.
