Stage 2 of the Tour of South Africa is an amped up version of S1. A little longer, a little bumpier and a few more categorized climbs. Although no uphill finish this time. The hills include 5 Cat 3s, plus 3 Cat 4s. There are also 3 sprints across the 187k stage. Odd Christian Eiking won the stage last year from a 9-man group, although the peloton caught them near at the line and the first 118 riders got the same time.
Eiking and most of those 9 not here this year (only Borges and Moscon are) but that kind of rider dominates the favorites list.
15k gone, Dall'Oste taking advantage of his time loss yesterday to get some freedom in the break. Strava backing him as Maesen and Hansen are also here. The other 3 are Pushpakumara, Brun, and Kaloniatis. None of these are repeat customers from yesterday so they all start from 0 in the KOM competition, but plenty of points available for them today. The peloton is at 1’05, more riders have tried to attack but the peloton doesn’t seem to want more than these 6 out front.
Eventually the peloton does let 2 more riders go, a fourth Strava rider, Budnieks, who is second in the KOM competition, and Phelan for Air New Zealand. About 2k to the first KOM point, the lead is 2’40.
At the top it is a Strava sweep led by Dall’Oste. Budnieks takes 3rd to move him to 11, 2 points off the leader, Meyer.
At the sprint point Phelan goes a little early and surprise the Strava crew. Dall’Oste 2nd, Kaloniatis, 3rd.
At the next sprint the order reverses. Kaloniatis gets first ahead of Dall’Oste and Phelan Their lead was over 5 minutes but is now back to 4’12 with Xero, Trans, Jura, Phillps and Indosat all working.
Leading into the second Cat 3 Strava set a torrid pace setting up an attack from Dall’Oste.
Dall’Oste carries the advantage to the line and takes 6 more points, he is just one off the virtual lead. Budnieks again takes 3rd, he is now tied with Meyer. Peloton at 3’22 with 120k to ride.
Phelan blasts away early again to take the 3rd sprint. He has gained 14 second in sprint bonuses, he could be well placed if he finishes with the front group. Kaloniatis and Dall’Oste take the rest. 80k to go the peloton at 2’42, Sauber added to the chasing teams mentioned above. Most of the climbing is still to come.
On the next Cat 3 the Strava boys are a little slow to react and Brun and Kaloniatis get a gap and take the first two spots. With Phelan in 3rd.
Pushpakumara launches the first attack on the next climb. 1.3k to go in the climb, 50k in the stage. The peloton just 1’11 behind now.
But this time Dall'Oste is paying attention and he claws his way back and takes 1st an the virtual KOM lead. Phelan and the Eddie Stobart man take the rest of the points. Maesen is dropped and looks like he won’t make it back to the front. Brun and Kaloniatis also dropped, they might make it back.
Dall’Oste pads his lead at the next Cat 4. Hansen and Pushpakumara take the rest of the points. 38k to go, these three have 1’28 over the peloton which still contains 142 riders. Sauber is doing most of the work. Phelan 13 seconds behind the leaders, the rest of the breakaway riders are probably not going to see the front again.
Led by Bellis and Aregger the peloton catches Phelan with 27.7k to ride. The other three have 1’08. Just about 3k to the last Cat 3, Dall’Oste will want to stay away from that. Peloton still at 140 riders but there has been some splits. Voyagin focusing their efforts on Kinoshita (in Green), the Yellow Jersey has been riding towards the back of the pack.
Dall'Oste hangs on and takes 6 more points at the last Cat 3, but it looks like that will be his last act for the day. The peloton is right behind. 24k to go, from here a long, gentle descent then two quick Cat 4’s between 5 and 10k from the end and then some bumpy terrain to the finish
15k to the finish, 5k to the first of the two Cat 4’s, the breakaway is over. The peloton split after the Cat 3 and the chase has been on since. The gap right now is 28 seconds. Bordeaux, Pas Normal and Eddie Stobart trying to close it. The Yellow Jersey is on the wrong side of the split. Kinoshita has made it but has no teammates in the front group. Other riders near the top of the GC missing the split are two of yesterday’s breakaway survivors, Meyer and Cheyne. Poljanski, Fabbro, and Rochas are other notable names not in the front group. Strava seem to be putting all their eggs in the breakaway basket as Poljanski is not even in the first chase group, he lost a lot of time yesterday as well.
500 meters to the top of the climb. Moscon launches the first attack. Houle on his wheel. Borges thinking about following. The first two groups back together on the climb but will likely split again over the top.
Borges does follow but so does Kinoshita and sweeps past all of them over the top and opens a small gap on Moscon. The other two are caught by the peloton which is 9 seconds behind Moscon. Aranburu leading the chase. Just under 2k to the final Cat 4 and 8.6k to the finish.
500 meters from the top of the final Cat 4, Van Garderen leads a 19-man group back up to the two escapees. These 21 have 44 seconds over a 42-rider chase group. Houle, Borisavljevic, Hirschi and Hoelgaard are in the 2nd group in addition to all the names who missed the original split.
Van Garderen goes straight on to the attack. Bystrom follows. Aranburu and Moscon try to go with them but can’t.
4k to go, the front two have a 13 second lead, but many of the favorites still have domestiques and they have been chasing, including Raileanu, Rohendi, Ssabagwanya, and Aregger. Rochas made a valiant solo effort to get back to the front group but failed and he is now with the 2nd chase group which has 45 riders and is 39 seconds behind the first chase group.
As Aregger struggles to close the final meters to the front two, Bystrom attacks again and gaps Van Garderen. 2.3k to ride.
1k banner. Bystrom has 10 seconds on Van Garderen, who has 10 seconds on the chase group which is still being led by Aregger. Raileanu has been dropped and none of the other domestiques seem to have anything left. The 2nd chase group has disintegrated and those riders won’t be contesting the victory.
600 metes for Bystrom. Borges about to open the sprint behind.
300 meters for Bystrom but Van Garderen is caught and Borges is flying. Next two are Kinoshita and Ssabagwanya.
Bystrom is celebrating but it doesn’t look like his going win.
And he does not. Misjudgement by the Norwegian, he needed to keep riding. Borges finishing ability proves decisive as he wins Stage 2. Kinoshita takes 3rd. Those two will be tied on time, Kinoshita gets the jersey based on placings. He also takes over the points lead.
Still a pretty good day for Trans as Calmejane takes 4th. The rest of the top 10 are:
Project Africa with 3 in the top 10, they take over the team’s lead. Aiden Van Niekerk leads the White jersey competition although he is tied on time with Habtemichael.
The first 18 riders finish on the same time. Hirschi leads home the 2nd group, 55 seconds down.
Tour of South Africa 
