Second day and similar stage. Pan Flat and hence with yesterdays win, Kip is top favourite today with Von Hoff and Modolo again his biggest rivals.
Just one rider in the break with Quispe and hence bonus second and sprinter points on the two intermediates.
The first with 71km to go is won by Kip and he extends the lead. Modolo behind him with Brus and Von Hoff following just like most other sprinters unrewarded.
The next sprint with 37km to go and here Quispe actually is caught already but taking the 6s still.
Then Brenton Jones with a huge gap to Kip in 3rd. Most sprinters simply waited too long here while the Aussie went early on the other road side.
It`s surprisingly windy today and here we see the first victim! Former star Contador, who surely hoped to deliver a decent result here for Newton foundation is lost behind the peloton accompanied by two team mates and some other riders. Still a decent climber, the flat bits are not to his favour in higher age.
More riders a bit later struggle in the wind and this time 45 in total.
Sonnery as sprinter also behind but GC wise a bigger hit for Medvedev Briceno Lewis Cunego
So couple more riders with low skills on the flat sections and another former world class rider in Cunego who tries to shine here and there via the amateur program.
And it continues to look bad for Newton Foundation in especially. Antón the next behind the peloton and also Degand
in this group.
The sprinter teams though don`t care and go another bit higher. Leezer - Brus - Kip one the inner side and Reddish - Von Hoff - Sweeting on the other side. So at least Newton`s sprinter with a good position today.
Baterdene trying to go to the front for Von Hoff as well while Keough, Jones, Opie, Breschel and also Modolo and the others still have 3-4 bikes gap to the front.
With 2,3km the sprint hasn`t started yet and more riders are in position. Keough behind Sweeting while Dupont and Jones go behind Kip.
Some more a bit behind incl. Modolo.
Under the Flamme Rouge Von Hoff and Keough both go around the leadout with Breschel and Sweeting behind them.
On the other side Jones and Brus in the best position with Kip and Dupont following.
Keough leads but Von hoff perfectly in the slipstream while Jones also with a good leadout for Kip.
In the middle of the road Modolo also found the way to the front now but is in the wind for some time already. Breschel next to him.
Keough slowly losing his pace while Von Hoff goes around. Then Jones and Modolo on the sides and Kip a bit blocked in the middle but the gap between the two leading sprinters might be enough for him to squeeze through.
The gap was big enough but it was too late. Von Hoff takes a nice win here for BNZ. This time ahead of Kip, who remains in the lead due to the bonus seconds on the way while Modolo with an impressive finish to 3rd. With a better positioning he surely had won todays stage.
Keough as 4th ahead of Jones and Brus followed by Sweeting and Dupont.
