The second stage is another flat one, though a bit trickier than the opener. Crosswinds up to 45kmh add a challenge today, as well, so it ain't an easy day in the saddle.
Kennaugh took the opening stage in a thriller against Bouhanni, both should be aiming for the stage again. Of course there's also Mohs and Lo Cicero, who rather disappointed yesterday. Appollonio, Maksimov, Nelson, Van Asbroeck, a strong Serebriakov or Vanoverschelde as some more contenders for line honours.
The attacks for the break of the day kicked off right from the start of the stage:
#1: Vermote, Domene, Page, Rybalkin, Stoenchev, Uchima, Hsu, Vega
#2: Andersen, Bridges, Dillier, Lavery, Nonaka and the same names as bove
A big group, that is pulled back quickly. Three riders though managed to stay clear for the break of the day then:
Page Domene Hsu
Domene takes the first intermediate sprint ahead of Page!
Page takes the first mountain sprint ahead of Hsu and Domene then.
Domene would also take the second intermediate sprint ahead of Page.
The peloton is already on the chase and with 33km remaining, they are down by 2 minutes: Fablok, De Valio and Orange are sharing the work at the front of the bunch and with the crosswinds going up to almost 50kmh, we see a stretched field now. Surely a tough day for some less strong riders on flat roads with such conditions!
And indeed, soon after, we notice the first major split due to the pace and the wind: 19km to go and we see a group of 65 riders being dropped from the main peloton (101 riders)! No real surprise to see some notable names caught on the wrong side of the split and those riders will surely face a tough time to limit the damage in this final few kilometres:
Dillier Quaade Sterobo Christensen Li Thomas (GC's 3rd) Sebright Beukeboom Bontenackels Verona Hussein Ovechkin
Ford also got dropped a few moments before. This may not come as a surprise with those crosswinds and kilometres today.
So several TT specialists involved. Most of them with less GC hopes here anyway, as they are likely to struggle in the hilly stage. But it's definitely no good news neither. A special bummer for some Danish TT guys, who are not too strong on the hills though. All minor GC hopes should be gone, as the dropped group would not make it back to the chasing main group.
Itami had to abandon from the race in the meantime. Horrible news for the sprinter, who might have hoped for some stage success here.
At the front of the race, the breakaway went into pieces with Domene and Page dropping Hsu with now 15km remaining. They are about a minute ahead of the peloton, so it ain't looking good for them to hold the sprinters off until the end.
Domene took the second mountain sprint ahead of Page, but the latter will wear the jersey tomorrow:
Provisional KoM: Page 8, Domene 6, Hsu 4
6km before finish, the two escapees are reeled in by the pack, that is now almost three minutes ahead of the second big group!
Cohen is once again setting the pace and his teammates are trying to hold his wheel with no success, with also Orange and De Valio starting to prepar the sprint.
2.3km left and we're in the tricky final of the race: a few challenging corners, no easy sprint for sure.
Cohen still at the front and he's again opening up a gap on his and the other train(s)!
Stepniak
Maksimov
Guardini
Vanoverschelde
Kennaugh
Mohs
Lo Cicero
Reinhardt
Van der Sande
Bouhanni
Nelson
Viennet
Serebriakov
Manninen
Van Asbroeck
Cisse
Kuboki
Cohen is done a few moments later, his "leadout" was again kind of interesting, to say at least.
Maksimov moving forward to the very front, all of his own so far. Kennaugh also isolated from his teammates for the whole sprint: Vanoverschelde, Reinhardt, Nelson and Serebriakov right behind him.
Fablok with a bad train, as they did not manage to keep Mohs in a good position. Guardini not looking good today. Lo Cicero, Bouhanni, Van Asbroeck and Van der Sande as those, who are still in the mix then.
They are under the kite and Maksimov is still ahead of Kennaugh!
Nelson moved to the left side, with Van der Sande behind him now. Mohs is coming from behind, going past Vanoverschelde. Serebriakov, Bouhanni, Lo Cicero and Van Asbroeck still there. Reinhardt not looking good..
.. Reinhardt crashes! The tricky corners found there victim. Really bad luck, as he looked promising so far. Obviously, his chances are gone, but the good news is, that he does not cause any further crash or split here.
Two more corners and Maksimov lost his speed! He might have go too early here:
Kennaugh is sprinting into the leading position with Mohs closing up! Nelson going past Maksimov and Lo Cicero still struggles to keep up with the very best. Same goes for Serebriakov and Vanoverschelde, who lose speed quickly now.
Just a few metres to go and while Kennaugh is still in the lead, Mohs is making up ground quickly now! He's definitely faster at this point!
Nelson going towards a strong podium finish, Maksimov won't come back. Lo Cicero and Van Asbroeck, as well as Van der Sande in the fight for a Top-5 result at least. Bouhanni too far behind, it seems.
Mohs did it! Way to bounce back from a disappointing opener and a bad working train today. His super strong finish made him sprint to a rather comfortable victory. Well done!
Kennaugh holds on for a still strong 2nd place, that makes him defend his classification leads. A good day for Nelson as well, as he delivers his team a podium result as 3rd on the day.
Maksimov narrowly holds off Van Asbroeck for 4th place. Lo Cicero has to settle for 6th ahead of Van der Sande, Bouhanni, Vanoverschelde and Serebriakov.
A disappointing day for Appollonio, who finishes 12th behind a strong finishing Ignatiev. His crash yesterday may still affect him afterall.
+ 3'28" for a 3-men-group with Hsu, Bico and Barbin. No good news for Barbin, who's amongst the best puncheurs here.
+ 4'32" for the dropped group with the already mentioned TT specialists. If they had minor hopes to somehow survive the hilly stage here, today has been a real bummer as for their GC aspirations.
Kennaugh with another great result and obviously, it's enough to defend the GC lead for another day: 12 seconds ahead of Mohs, 16 ahead of Nelson. Kennaugh also leading the points classifications (45pts) ahead of Mohs (34) and Nelson (32).
A great day for Page as well: 6th in the GC (Domene 5th) and leading the KoM and U25 competition.
