Stage 2 - Bilzen > Heers Second day here in Belgium and it's another day with cobbles. Though not as difficult as yesterday's stage, the premium cobblers will surely need to do something today. At least those, who did not have a teammate in the winning break yesterday: Vanspeybrouck as the most notable name then, but he did not look too good so far. Van Asbroeck as another one, who will certainly have an eye on this tage, just like Rowe - the duo rode pretty strong in the opening stage and finished in the first main group with Blythe.
Like yesterday, the first attacking riders go clear quickly and form the break of the day - 5 riders this time:
They establish a gap up to eight minutes and obviously, they will hope to go for another breakaway win..
Carlsberg, Minions and Podium Ambition controlling the things at the front of the pack so far and prior to the first cobbles sectors of the day, the peloton is still full in numbers (118 riders) and now 5 minutes behind the breakaway with 77km remaining.
The first three cobbles sectors did it's damage in the leading group then, with only three riders left at the front of the race:
The peloton is 3'30" in arrears with now 47km to go..
29.5km to the finish and Monk can't follow anymore:
Marzuki and Lilholt building the new leading duo, that is 2'48" ahead of the peloton!
De Haes setting the pace at the front of the peloton and with 2'30" of disadvantage and 28km to go, there's still a chance for both the leading duo and the peloton to take this second stage here.
The pace and the cobbles made for major splits in the pack now and we've only 33 riders in the main peloton. Most of the GC contenders still in there, but a few of yesterday's high finishers got dropped nevertheless:
Schreurs (GC's 22nd) as the last rider being dropped..
Giaux (24th) Cancellara (27th) in a next group further 35 seconds behind..
Ngamoki-Cameron (25th) Bagdonas (26th) even further behind and probably losing big minutes!
Just 8km to go now and no big moves from the peloton yet: the leading duo is allowed to grow the gap back to 3 minutes! And that's obviously great news for Lilholt and Marzuki, who are probably going to fight for line honours today..
Monk a minute behind and still two minutes ahead of the main bunch, that did not really keep chasing the leading group with the highest possible pace..
Doull (GC's 15th) still struggles to keep up with the main group and with 10km to go, he's been dropped just like his teammate Cancellara several kilometres before! That's quite a bummer for Doull, who's been of the strongest timetrial specialists from yesterday's best performers. This struggles today may destroy his hopes for a notable GC result here..
7.5km to go for the peloton, that is already 4 minutes behind the leading duo! None of the three escapees is a threat for the GC, but of course some riders would need to do show something today (attacking GC leader Owen might have been an option, at least):
Vanspeybrouck as the first to do so..
Albert tries to jump behind!
The duo quickly established a gap of more than a minute on the peloton, which keeps being rather passive so far. Too passive for some riders' liking:
Matthews attacks with 6.5km remaining..
David (who's been so disappointing yesterday) goes after him soon!
Back to the very front, where Marzuki goes clear from Lilholt with just 2.8km to go and Monk still a minute behind..
..for the win: Marzuki takes the stage and that's at least some good news for SPAR, which had such a terrible day in the opening stage and David losing all GC ambitiouns! Well done, especially after his puncture on a cobbles sector.
+ 27" for Lilholt, who will be more than a happy with a 2nd place to show Risa's colours so prominently!
The fight for today's 3rd place is still open then: Vanspeybrouck managed to catch up to Monk, who more and more suffers from his efforts today!
Albert not far behind, but struggling to keep up with Vanspeybrouck..
..and the peloton (31 riders) is 1'25" in arrears! Will Vanspeybrouck (GC + 2.16) become a real threat for GC-leader Owen?
+ 2'17" for Vanspeybrouck as 3rd and some minor bonifications as well
Albert comes in 4th ahead of Monk and both finish within the same time as Vanspeybrouck! A great result for Albert and of course Monk.
The peloton comes in about two minutes later! Certainly not the best stage for Podium Ambition, especially with Matthews attacking late into the stage to somehow destroy the needed pace setting for Owen:
+ 4'23" for Matthews, who finishes ahead of the main bunch (with no further gap though)
Petit, Van Asbroeck, Rowe and Blythe complete the Top-10 of the stage then. Not the best day for Blythe though, since he really should have tried to try such a move like Vanspeybrouck did!
Good news for Doull, who made his way back into the main group eventually!
And what a move this could have been: Owen retains the leader shirt, but Vanspeybrouck came as close as 2 seconds to move up to 2nd in the GC! Also Albert with a great result, moving up to 3rd with just 10 seconds off the GC lead. Flaksis 39 seconds down as 4th with Okbamariam and Kosic finishing safely in today's main group and keeping their one-minute advantage on the next bunch of GC contenders.
Marzuki did not contest for the intermediate sprints today, but he still took enough points to move up to 1st in the points classification with 33 points collected. Owen 31pts, Lilholt 28pts as third in the ranking.
