After a bit of a break here finally is the 2nd stage. As I haven`t found a way to fix it, I have to report the original version now.
As you can see we face another very hilly day and it might be the harder of the two stages. Yesterday the breakaway successfully gained a little bit of time. Today the real favourites need to attack as some of those were decent puncheurs.
But just like yesterday we have some crashes again. And somehow the better GC riders are hit again.
Early on it`s Kuzniak (Zoegas/14.) on the ground. A bit later it`s Bonnafond (BNP/24.) and also Pinho Machado (Millenium) and Cotumba (BNP) as well. All riders can easily come back into the peloton though.
We reach the first mountain sprint and some riders obviously have formed a group.
Monese (Standard), Valderon (Colombia), Stundzia (Kalev), Haring (Miche), Guama de la Cruz (Argo) and Perichon (SFR) are the riders going over the line in that order.
Safarzadeh (KazMunayGas) comes over the line solo as 7th to take the last point.
And the crashes continue. Wilman (Zoegas) already the 2nd rider of this team and yet again a high GC rider as he sits in 11th position.
Mainly Rucanor is doing the pace at the moment but as the gap is just at ~3min with 145km to go it`s not too fast and Wilman should be back soon.
There we go. A breakaway of 7 riders as Safarzadeh successfully joined them after some solo kilometers.
We have some dangerous riders in there, who are just 1'34 behind. So the peloton should be careful.
And the next rider. And alos the next Zoegas one. It`s Wengelin! 6th in the GC and a good puncheur. What a bad luck today.
At least he comes back after some kilometers but it surely is spending more energy for him.
HC category on the next climb. Safarzadeh takes it ahead of Haring and Stundzia.
Monese, Calderon, Guama de la Cruz and Perichon follow. But 4 more riders can collect points out of the peloton.
But not many riders were very interested and so some helpers were taking the points behind. Actually the actual leader Potocki tried to attack but went to late.
Katusha and iBanesto join Rucanor at the front. 120km and 6'17. So not very dangerous yet but the teams don`t want to allow a too big gap. They obviously have learned from the experience on the first stage.
This really looks like sabotage. The next Zoegas rider on the ground. It`S Remme. At least not their GC candidate this time.
Next KoM and Perichon this time with a stronger attack to take the 10 points. Stundzia, Calderon, Monese and Guama de la Cruz come over next to take the remaining points.
So we have a nice mixture here and the fight will remain exciting.
The higher pace on those uphill parts also hurts several weaker riders and we have many splits.
Biggest name probably Alemayhu. But as he did crash yesterday this might be the explanation.
Wait. We have another big name. It`s Duret (Peugeot). As 18th in the GC he still has all chances to improve but here he wasn`t concentrated.
Last KoM in this race and Guama de la Cruz takes the 16 points.
Safarzadeh as 2nd ahead of Calderon, Monese, Haring, Stundzia and Perichon. So yet again a good mix.
So who will win it here? A quick count and we have a winner. Monese wins it with 40 points ahead of Safarzadeh and Calderon with 34 points each. The actual leader Potocki is dropping to the 8th only.
80km and still 5'10 for the group. So iBanesto is really highering the pace this time and also BNP and Peugeout are helping. This obviously makes it very hard to come back for Duret. His team also doing the pace can only explain that they gave up on him for this race and instead go for their other leader Malle, who should be the stronger of both either way.
Guess what. Zoegas rider on the ground. Surprise surprise. It`s Kuzniak again. And this time it will be very hard to come back.
Damn, what did those guys drink yesterday?
Several riders in the group also go for the intermediate sprint to better their GC position. KoM winner Monese also takes the points and more important seconds here ahead of Haring and Guama de la Cruz.
Let`s have a look on the final. Two tough climbs and some parts are really hard and go over 10%. Best chances for some attacks I guess.
With 15km to go and a gap of a bit more than 2min also the peace in the breakaway is over.
Calderon and Stundzia attack first and have a small gap.
More teams come to the front. The very first rider is even Nathan Earle, who belongs to the favourites today.
Luis Angel Mate though is the first favourite to attack with 11km to go on the hardest part of the first climb. As you can see the gap to the breakaway isn`t too big.
More riders try to follow him.
Niv (BNP)
Malle (Peugeot)
Schafer (LKT)
But on top of the first climb it only results in the fusion of the main part of the breakaway and all those attackers.
Only Calderon and Stundzia are left in front.
None of those two is at the moment in the virtual GC lead. And to keep it like this Stamsnijder`s Rucanor team is back at the front with 5km to go. Still 105 riders in the group. Far more than I actually expected. So far it`S working out very well for the Dutch.
2km left and Calderon is going up the last climb solo. But the gap is tiny...
Milan (Eroski) and Wu (Fuji) are the next riders to attack. They overtook Stundzia easily and are just a bit behind Calderon.
Finally the peloton starts to stretch quite a lot on those 15% slopes. And most favourites are in front.
Wu, Milan, Niv, Mate, Earle to name the first 5 riders in the peloton.
Also Malle, Bitew Shiferaw, Clarke, Kochetkov, Stamsnijder, Moletta, Parno and Stevic within the top 20 in the final.
Luckily the top riders enter the final 15% climb in a line as the road is narrow here.
Calderon still in first position with Mate coming strong from behind ahead of Milan and the others.
Stamsnijder in a very strong 7th in the final.
Mate comes over the top with a very small gap. Behind we have still a lot of riders.
Huge win for Mate who clearly has a gap. But will it be enough for the race win? Surely he will climb the rankings a bit.
10s later Milan comes over the line as 2nd ahead of a strong Earle today.
But also Cohnen, Niv, Parno and Stamsnijder in that big group without any gaps. So Stamsnijder indeed wins the Tour du Haut Var 2013 due to his coup yesterday.
And as the first gap comes after the 107th, we have almost no serious changes and Clarke will keep his 2nd. Wu finishes 3rd ahead of Cassidy and Loubet.
Mate, Milan and Earle at least climb up to 6-8 and todays breakaway riders Monese and Guama de la Cruz also finish in the top10 overall.
So it was a pretty weird race with unfortunately too less gaps and too many crashes.
