Stage 2 of the Tour of California sees the riders tackle a 126k mountain stage finishing atop Mount Baldy. One of the GC contenders will hope to seize control of the race here and hold it through to the finish. But they will want to push the pace to make it hard as stages 6 and 7 will give the TT and hills specialists a chance to regain ground. The stage includes two Cat 1 climbs, plus HC points at the finish, and 2 sprints.
Elissonde tops the favorites list but he is the worst placed of them after Stage 1. He trails his teammate Diaz, who is the best placed of the listed favorites, by 1’15. The others are all between those two.
10k in and the first climb to Glenora Ridge looming ahead. There is a 12-rider break, with a 2’31 lead, which appears to the break of the day, with the GC gaps small it seems an unlikely day for a breakaway win. Nevertheless, hope springs eternal in the breakaway specialist’s heart. They are: Ludvigsson Van Tricht Drizners Campenaerts Vandousselaere Medvedev Van Winden Vansevenant Selander Bjerg Ligthart Orosco
Their GC positions range from Vandousselaere, who is currently 2nd, to Medvedev, who is the best climber in the group, by some margin, but is currently the lantern rouge in the race. Despite that lowly ranking he is only 2’15 off the race lead. Expect a tight leash today.
99k to go, 3k to the top of Glenora Ridge. The peloton is at 3’42, which is roughly where they have been most of the climb. Ligthart, Van Winden and Vandousselaere have been dropped from the break.
With 1.5k to the top Medvedev makes his intentions clear. He is good climber but a poor puncheur, so this may not work.
With 500 meters to go he has reduced the group at the front to 5 but Orosco is coming around him.
Orosco takes first place ahead of Vansevenant.
Full points are: Orosco 16 Vansevenant 12 Ludvigsson 10 Medvedev 8 Van Tricht 6 Selander 4 Bjerg 2
70km to go now, about 2k to the first sprint which marks the end of the descent. The 7 who scored mountain points are together at the front. Drizners is 39 seconds behind. The remainder of the original breakaway are either caught or almost caught. The peloton is at 3’04.
Ludvigsson just edges Vansevenant at the first sprint point.
Shortly thereafter Ludvigsson easily takes the 2nd sprint as well. Van Tricht and Vansevenant take the rest of the points. From here the riders have 44k to go, mostly up hill. The peloton is 2’28 back. Drizners was able to rejoin the front of the race.
Aramco, Pas Normal, Volcanica and Glanbia working in the pack. Domene is the first rider dropped from the peloton.
5km to the second Cat 1. Drizners has been dropped and is back in the pack which is at 2’03, mainly due to pressure from Paez. A handful of weaker riders have been dropped.
Forcing from Medvedev reduces the group to him, Orosco, Vansevenant, and Selander, and with 800 meters to the top he tries to make his work pay off with an attack.
But he doesn’t have the punch to finish it and Vansevenant takes maximum points.
Paez leads the 90-rider peloton over 2’15 later. From here they have 27k to the finish including a short climb back up to Glenora ridge (they start much higher than the on the first ascent) and then the climb to Mount Baldy.
Vansevenant’s win on the 2nd climb mean he has the lead in that competition and as he has more than the 20 points available at the finish he will hold that lead tonight, unless one of the breakaway riders scores at the finish. Full standings on the 2nd climb were:
The first 3 over the top have a 20 second lead over Orosco. He should be able to rejoin them, the rest of the breakaway’s day is done.
19km to go, the peloton has just started the climb back to Glenora Ridge and Costagli launches the first attack.
Haas quickly shuts that down.
Soon after Costagli has another go, this time it is Paez chasing. Up front Vansevenant has dropped the others and is going solo. His lead is 1’23 over Costagli and 1’30 over the peloton.
Again Costagli is brought back and now Craddock counters. Glanbia has done a lot of work but they don’t have many climbers, the American figures attack is the best form of defense.
Craddock’s attack mainly serves to drag the peloton up the climb. With 15k left in the stage he relents. The lone leader has 45 seconds over the peloton that is still 77 riders strong. The race leader is about 30 riders back but looking comfortable and well supported.
As they reach the top of the ridge Costagli tests whether the third time is the charm.
It isn’t, again Paez shuts him down. With 10k to go Volcanica go to the front for the first time with Herrada and Jorgenson. There is a short descent and then the final 7.7k climb. Vansevenant still has a 30 second lead, the rest of the break is caught.
7.3 to go and as one Minion is caught (Vansevenant), another goes on the attack, it is Haga. He has Pavlic and Martin for company.
Volcanica bring back the latter two but Haga opens up a 28 second lead. 6k to ride.
5k to ride, peloton down to 55 riders with others on the verge of being dropped. Volcanica are letting Haga suffer about 25 seconds ahead.
3.2k to go. Potocki on the front now. Haga at 16 seconds, the peloton down to 38 riders.
11 more riders are dropped including the first big guns, Shirota, Fernandez, and much more surprisingly, Brenes. His dream of finishing his career bringing glory to his home country is turning into a nightmare.
2k to go for Haga, Potocki has cut his lead to 10 seconds. More significantly, the Yellow Jersey is dropped, his group is 34 seconds behind a 19-rider peloton. Other riders dropped include Barta, Costagli, and Craddock.
1.5k to go as Haga is shut down. There are 13 riders left in the lead group. They are: Mas Borisavljevic Martin Elissonde Diaz Potocki Helme Tatarinov Dulanjana Haga Ratiy Aru Amador
Pavlic is 51 seconds behind which means Diaz, the best placed in this group, has the virtual GC lead.
1k banner, Borisavljevic is dropped. Hello Fresh very strong on the front. Helme is having a great day for Kraftwerk.
600 meters. Potocki and Amador at the front. Diaz well placed. Haga and Martin among those struggling.
Potocki cracks and Amador surges to the front, he looks to have the better of all 3 Hello Fresh riders, although Diaz is moving well.
100 meters and Amador and Diaz both struggling. Tatarinov has moved into 3rd, another great ride by the Russian.
Amador takes the deserved victory for Volcanica. Diaz takes second on the same time, he wil have a 7 second GC lead after time bonuses. Tatarinov 3rd, at 12 seconds.
A great day for Potocki specifically and Hello Fresh in general. He takes 4th also on 12 seconds ahead of Dulanjana and Elissonde on 25 seconds. Dulanjana is 3rd on GC on 52 seconds, 6 seconds ahead of his teammate, Tatariniov.
Then Helme makes it 3 in the top 10 for Kraftwerk. The PCT rider takes a big lead in the White Jersey competition. The Americans, Barta and McNulty could be fighting for 2nd in that competition, the former currently leads the latter by 29 seconds.
Mas, Martin and Aru complete the top 10.
Diaz also takes the points lead. Hello Fresh the teams lead.
Tour of California 
