Second stage: the first flat stage, a parcours around Mino, that features a short but steep climb. Definitely not the easiest profile for pure sprinters, but of course there's a few riders, who certainly aim for a stage-win (and maybe the GC lead as well):
Van Heerden, Lavoine, Serebriakov and Rowe as the best sprinters on paper. Van Heerden and Rowe though lacking the acceleration to be considered the top favorites. Chen, Santos, Sobota and maybe Post Rundt Danmark's stage-winner Lobato del Valle as possible threats as well. Even some puncheurs may fancy their chances, if the climb does some damage to the pure sprinters.
The breakaway group is quickly formed and allowed to stay clear:
Tanovitchii Rinner O'Connor Novak
Tanovitchii as the best puncheur in the group and he takes the first two mountain sprint ahead of Novak/Rinner, with Novak striking back at the second sprint - beating Tanovitchii/Rinner for a tied virtual lead in the KoM rankings with still 110km to go!
Tanovitchii though goes and dominates the third sprint:
The peloton obviously started to narrow the gap in the meantime - with now 38km remaining, the breakaway group leads by 2'15" and teams like Eritel, Novatek and cycleYorkshire share the work in the chase. Also Orange and Fablok show it's colours, just like Ferrero. Dennis and Ignatiev with their presence at the top of the pack as well.
The technical downhill sector is a dangerous factor today and 36km before the finish, we have a first bigger crash, that also causes a major split in the pack! Just 68 riders remain in the main group, with a second group of 72 riders in danger to lose contact..
the crash happened in the middle of the pack and it's hard to say, who actually hit the turf and who's just a victim of the split. Some riders though find themselves being dropped from the second group and they definitely went down in the crash:
It will be a tough fight to come back, as the peloton goes with a fast pace now..
Tanovitchii also takes the last mountain sprint to take the first KoM lead here:
KoM: Tanovitchii 22, Novak 18, Rinner 6
With now 26km to go, the peloton (back to 124 riders in the meantime - the mentioned crash victims though almost three minutes behind) is still about two minutes in arrears!
Khederi now leading the chase: 12km left and the gap has been narrowd to 1'17" in the meantime. Eritel as the hardest working team now, with some support from Novatek. One more climb to come and it looks like it could become a close decision between the early break and the peloton!
A few notable names got dropped (again) in the meantime:
Cunego Valverde Robert Tennant Rowe Ghyselinck
as the most notable riders, who can't follow the pace anymore! They weren't amongst those being dropped from the bigger crash, but they clearly suffer from the pace anyway. Also group Kolesnikov/Poljanski is still several minutes behind the pack. They will all lose big minutes today..
Tanovitchii went clear from the breakaway group on the final climb and with now just 2.5km to go, he's still 40 seconds ahead of the peloton (80 riders)!
Rinner and Novak in between him and the bunch.. O'Connor has been reeled in though..
Teklehaimanot - Kudus - Tewelde working for Van Heerden with also Kwiatkowski and Ignatiev at the very front of the pack now:
Eritel apparently going all-in for their sprint leader, who's the best positioned sprinter at this point. But will they manage to close the gap to Tanovitchii with less than 3km to go?
It will be a tough challenge, to say at least: the bunch enters the final 2km with still a 26" deficit on Tanovitchii, while Rinner has been swallowed now. Novak a few seconds ahead, but he's likely to be caught soon.
Eritel still with some prominent support for Van Heerden, but it's getting closer in the front rows of the peloton now..
..so let's have a look at who's in the best positions as they enter the finishing stretch and final kilometre of the race:
Tanovitchii still leading by 20 seconds!
Novak about to being swallowed by the sprinting bunch..
Kudus Kuznetsov - Ignatiev Van Heerden - Tewelde Serebriakov - Klemme - Lavoine Lobato del Valle - Kwiatkowski - Giacoppo Palini
Tewelde lost Kudus' wheel, but he seems to be in the mix anyway. Ignatiev definitely looking strong so far and he might become the biggest threat for GC-leader Dennis that way!
Tanovitchii significally slower than the sprinting peloton, but he's 17 seconds ahead with now just 500metres to go!
Ignatiev indeed a real force today, as he sprints to the leading position at the front of the pack now..
..and he's by far the fastest at this point, where we just have 200metres to go for Tanovitchii and 400metres for the peloton:
Tanovitchii hasn't got any power left, but there's still a gap.. Kudus can't follow Ignatiev, as we now see Van Heerden, Serebriakov, Lavoine and also Giacoppo moving forward! Lobato and Kwiatkowski already too far behind to be considered stage podium contenders..
Still a few metres to go, but Tanovitchii starts to celebrate his stage-win!
This smells like a Zabel with Ignatiev already closing up with still a way to go...
..oh and that's a huge bummer for Tanovitchii indeed! A clear win for Ignatiev, who was so much faster on the final kilometre than everyone else. That's the GC-lead (and points lead) as well and Tanovitchii has to settle for a kinda embarrassing 2nd place eventually. Obviously, it's still a great result with also the KoM-lead secured, but that early celebration will haunt him for a while.. to be fair, Ignatiev might have won the stage even without this early celebration though..
Van Heerden completes the stage-podium ahead of Serebriakov, Lavoine and Kwiatkowski. A strong sprint from Van Heerden, but Ignatiev was simply too strong today. The hard work from Eritel paid off in a way, as also Kudus (7th) gets a notable result on this stage. The question may be, if he will suffer from those efforts tomorrow?
98 riders finish with the same time as Ignatiev, while the earlier mentioned dropped riders lost at least 3 minutes eventually. Terrible news for guys like Poljanski, Cunego and Zardini in particular.
A huge day for Ignatiev though, as he leads the GC by 20 seconds on Dennis now. With the first hilly stage to come tomorrow, he may fancy his chances to defend yellow until the Mt Fuji timetrial in two days.
