The second stage is another flat one with a few bumps on the road. We open with a couple of stiff climbs including one rather amusingly as a category 1. Two sprints follow before a very small bump given a cat 3, before. Reasonable climb and then on to our finishing circuits. The final sprint prime is a decent distance from the end, however if there is no breaks we could see some sprinters lacking top end speed.
Lasca leads with sprint bonus man Jorgenson in second. Plenty of sprinters got involved yesterday with the likes of Dekkers, Gavazzi, Cardoso, Friedman, Crespo and Nelson getting involved. ANC Halfords seemed particularly active, they wanted of course to set things up for Nelson but Tanguy at least has the polko-dot jersey.
He rides out near the front at the early stages of this second stage with Lasca up their with teammate Fonzi.
Again not a lot of early action to report, with this high category climb coming up could be a chance for Tanguy to cement a good lead in that competition.
The tall figure of Tanguy's teammate David Millar leads us over with Tanguy second.
It moves Millar to 36 points and Tanguy to 36 points also as both share the lead well clear of anyone else. Neither of the Gazelles Goddaert or Venter bothering to contest.
Onto the sprint and a reminder of the GC and points standings
1. Lasca (Kappa) leader (27 points)
2. Jorgenson (Risa) at six seconds (16 points)
3. Friedman (Ekspla) at ten seconds (20 points)
4. Nelson (Halfords) at twelve seconds (10 points)
5. Cardoso (Privatbank) at fourteen seconds (16 points)
6. Dekkers (Allianz) at fourteen seconds (11 points)
Crespo and Moren along with Nardin and Gavazzi/Porsev have also looked to get involved in the sprinting. So plenty of names to keep an eye out for.
Here we go as white jersey Nelson takes the initiative today with Dekkers and Jorgenson right on his wheel. Lasca is late to the party again, it served him well in the final sprint but he may find it hard here.
As we can see Friedman is also contesting. It's tight.
Dekkers gets the nod just ahead of Nelson and Jorgenson. Behind the front five Lequatre and Crespo contest but ultimately fruitlessly in an attempt to get bonus points and seconds.
Leaderboard has now changed slightly behind Lasca.
1. Lasca leader (27 points)
2. Jorgenson at four seconds (20 points)
3. Dekkers at eight seconds (17 points)
4. Nelson at eight seconds (14 points)
5. Friedman at ten seconds (20 points)
6. Cardoso at fourteen seconds (16 points)
The next sprint comes fairly fast so it is a quick refresh for the pack before the next battle. Nelson is struggling to get that win here, though looks sharper today. Tanguy leads him into a great position for sprint 2.
That's Lampaert not Dekkers on his wheel with Jorgenson just behind that. The problem for Nelson is that Jorgenson is there.
Indeed Jorgenson has that kick that is too much for Nelson. Nelson fades back as Friedman, Lasca and Dekkers come up towards him.
Nelson hangs onto the second place with Dekkers just holding off Freidman and Lasca for third. We have a new virtual leader:
1. Jorgenson leader (26 points)
2. Lasca at two seconds (27 points)
3. Nelson at six seconds (18 points)
4. Dekkers at eight seconds (19 points)
5. Friedman at twelve seconds (20 points)
6. Cardoso at sixteen second (16 points)
Everyone else is as 24 seconds so out of stage winning range which is worth keeping in mind. Also Lequatre, Nardin and Crespo decided to try for that sprint.
We had the little 3rd category right after the sprint. Tanguy leads us over it, in what is proving to be a bit of a farce of a competition.
So another soft pedalling day really, at least the hotspot sprints are keeping us entertained. We get another as soon as we get onto the finishing circuits about 23kms from the finish. It remains to be seen whether the kick has been burned off some of these sprinters.
Coming into this one it is Lasca who gets the jump with his Kappa team setting him up well. Just Dekkers with him, the Dutch sprinter winning today's first primer.
As Lasca and Dekkers battle for the first two places we can see Provisional leader Jorgenson on the right and the white jerseyed Nelson on the far left.
Lasca snatches back the provisional lead winning this sprint ahead of Dekkers in second and Nelson in third. Freidman, Lequatre, Nardin and Crespo again contest.
The virtual GC situation:
1. Lasca leader (33 points)
2. Jorgenson at four seconds (26 points)
3. Dekkers at six seconds (23 points)
4. Nelson at six seconds (20 points)
5. Friedman at sixteen seconds (20 points)
6. Cardoso at twenty second (16 points)
Everyone else at 28 seconds.
It could be a finish that suits Lasca as it goes up a little rise between 1000m and 500m before flattening out. It's a fairly winding tight little circuit we are finishing on but the teams get some trains together going into the final.
The left hand trains is driven by Risa Ergon with Lander, Enger and then Jorgenson. Freidman, Moren and Cardoso are hanging off this one.
The right hand train is lead by ANC Halfords with Thwaites leading out Nelson who is followed by a mini Allianz train with Maes and Dekkers with Porsev, Lasca and Nardin blocked out at the moment.
Things develop slightly as we get into the crucial last 3K's.
Three trains now with Risa down to Enger and Jorgenson followed by Moren, Cardoso and Freidman. ANC are just Thwaites and Nelson, Thwaites doing a decent job alone. Then Maes is leading out Dekkers followed by Porsev, Nardin, Lasca and Gavazzi. Ekspla greedily having three sprinters involved. Crespo is trying to follow Gavazzi.
They approach the kite.
Nelson is the first to punch it and under the shadows he has the lead.
Jorgenson is right on his shoulder with Gavazzi on his other shoulder. Lequatre has made an impressive move on the inside gutter dragging Moren and Cardoso through.
The road rises between 900m and 350m to go these will perhaps favour those who have done little other efforts today and like hills.
Nelson is cooked, with Jorgenson and Moren now battling with Cardoso, Gavazzi, Lequatre and Nardin involved.
Jorgenson struggled with the climb.
Moren can see a big win but Nardin and Cardoso are close. Freidman and Lasco look for points, with Lasco feeling he can also hold his GC lead.
Can Moren take it?
No Cardoso manages to snatch it away!
Freidman edges Lasca for fourth with Jorgenson 6th, Carrara a surprising 7th ahead of Porsev.
The frantic last lap could have caused splits in the pack. Lilholt , Lampaert, Rodriguez Oliver may have been among the riders to have lost time.
The race referees allowed some of the later groups to finish on the same time as the winners but the very last group have been give a seperate group. In this small weak field such a gap could be important. It may also encourage future breakaways but perhaps we are being hopeful.
Another surprise is that Cardoso sneaks into the overall lead after not contesting the primers he left himself fresh for a big 20 second burst at the end.
Stage results
Another tight sprint with Cardoso managing to sneak in and steal the win away from Moren.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Filipe Cardoso
Team Privatbank
3h56'16
2
Patrik Moren
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
3
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Team Gazelle
s.t.
4
Mike Friedman
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
5
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
6
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
7
Matteo Carrara
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
8
Alexander Porsev
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
9
Manuele Mori
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
10
Vojtech Hacecký
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
11
Blaz Furdi
Team Gazelle
s.t.
12
Klaas Sys
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
13
Jaume Rovira
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
14
Evaldas Siskevicius
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
15
Jonas Vangenechten
Team Gazelle
s.t.
16
Xavier Florencio
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
17
Ricki Nelson
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
18
Anthony Delaplace
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
19
Hans Dekkers
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
20
Mattia Gavazzi
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
21
Geoffroy Lequatre
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
22
Roy Sentjens
Team Gazelle
s.t.
23
Marcos Crespo
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
24
Daniel Hoelgaard
Team Privatbank
s.t.
25
Antoine Duchesne
Team Gazelle
s.t.
26
Michael Olsson
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
27
Davide Villella
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
28
Yannick Talabardon
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
29
Nikolas Maes
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
30
Brice Feillu
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
31
Scott Thwaites
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
32
Sondre Holst Enger
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
33
Alexander Gingsjo
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
34
Florian Scheit
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
35
Cesar Andre Fonte
Team Privatbank
s.t.
36
Ed Clancy
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
37
Sebastian Lander
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
38
David Chokheli
Team Privatbank
s.t.
39
Christer Rake
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
40
Nicolae Tanovitchii
Team Privatbank
s.t.
41
Artis Pujats
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
42
Guytan Lilholt
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
43
Christian Ranneries
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
44
Jaco Venter
Team Gazelle
s.t.
45
Kristof Goddaert
Team Gazelle
s.t.
46
Davide Appollonio
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
47
Soufiane Haddi
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
48
Richard Tanguy
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
49
Maarten Tjallingii
Control Team
s.t.
50
Adel Barbari
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
51
Arturs Ansons
Team Privatbank
s.t.
52
Danny Pate
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
53
Anatoliy Sosnitskiy
Team Privatbank
s.t.
54
Eric Pedrosa
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
55
Kristian Dyrnes
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
56
Russell Hampton
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
57
Giuseppe Fonzi
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
58
Ludovic Bret
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
59
Oscar Freire
Control Team
s.t.
60
Björn Leukemans
Control Team
s.t.
61
Tadej Valjavec
Control Team
s.t.
62
David Millar
ANC-Halfords
+ 2'21
63
Alex Meenhorst
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
64
Johan Broberg
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 2'54
65
Alberto Rodriguez Oliver
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
66
Andrei Krasilnikau
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
67
Yves Lampaert
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
68
Leif Hoste
Control Team
+ 3'20
GC:
The Portuguese sprinter who can climb also snatches the GC lead away from Lasca with bonus man Jorgenson again struggling at the finish.
Rank
Name
Team
Time
1
Filipe Cardoso
Team Privatbank
8h07'24
2
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
3
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
+ 4
4
Hans Dekkers
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
+ 8
5
Ricki Nelson
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
6
Mike Friedman
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 16
7
Patrik Moren
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
8
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Team Gazelle
+ 20
9
Alexander Porsev
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
+ 28
10
Matteo Carrara
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
s.t.
11
Blaz Furdi
Team Gazelle
s.t.
12
Jaume Rovira
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
13
Manuele Mori
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
14
Geoffroy Lequatre
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
15
Marcos Crespo
Vattenfall Cycling
s.t.
16
Mattia Gavazzi
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
17
Evaldas Siskevicius
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
s.t.
18
Klaas Sys
Kappa-ENI
s.t.
19
Xavier Florencio
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
s.t.
20
Jonas Vangenechten
Team Gazelle
s.t.
21
Sondre Holst Enger
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
22
Scott Thwaites
ANC-Halfords
s.t.
23
Antoine Duchesne
Team Gazelle
s.t.
24
Daniel Hoelgaard
Team Privatbank
s.t.
25
Sebastian Lander
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
s.t.
Points
Lasca holds the green jersey, again the finish yeilds a lot of points blunting Jorgenson's ealier prime attempts.
Rank
Name
Team
Points
General
1
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
18
45
2
Filipe Cardoso
Team Privatbank
25
41
3
Jonas Aaen Jørgensen
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
18
34
4
Mike Friedman
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
14
34
5
Patrik Moren
Vattenfall Cycling
20
27
6
Thiago Duarte Nardin
Team Gazelle
16
25
7
Hans Dekkers
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
12
23
8
Alexander Porsev
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
8
22
9
Ricki Nelson
ANC-Halfords
10
20
10
Matteo Carrara
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
9
14
11
Blaz Furdi
Team Gazelle
5
13
12
Marcos Crespo
Vattenfall Cycling
0
12
13
Geoffroy Lequatre
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
0
10
14
Jaume Rovira
FC Barcelona - Estrella Damm
3
7
15
Manuele Mori
Kappa-ENI
7
7
16
Mattia Gavazzi
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
0
6
17
Vojtech Hacecký
Kappa-ENI
6
6
18
Klaas Sys
Kappa-ENI
4
4
19
Sondre Holst Enger
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
0
2
20
Evaldas Siskevicius
Ekspla-Cision Cycling Team
2
2
21
Sebastian Lander
Risa - Ergon Cycling Team
0
1
22
Jonas Vangenechten
Team Gazelle
1
1
KoM
ANC continue to dominate the mountain standings with no attempt from Gazelle to stop Tanguy from holding the polkadots.
Rank
Name
Team
Mountain
General
1
Richard Tanguy
ANC-Halfords
18
42
2
David Millar
ANC-Halfords
16
36
3
Kristof Goddaert
Team Gazelle
0
20
4
Jaco Venter
Team Gazelle
0
20
5
Anatoliy Sosnitskiy
Team Privatbank
8
12
6
Francisco Lasca
Kappa-ENI
10
10
7
Giuseppe Fonzi
Kappa-ENI
10
10
8
Filipe Cardoso
Team Privatbank
4
4
9
Hans Dekkers
Allianz-BMW Cycling Team
2
2
10
Cesar Andre Fonte
Team Privatbank
0
2
11
Arturs Ansons
Team Privatbank
2
2
Youth
Lasca is the youth jersey leader but it will be Nelson in white with Lasca in green on stage 3.
