Welcome back to British Columbia, Canada once again, as week number 2 of this year's Tour of America comes to an end! But it's not just an easy ride before a day of rest - nope, it's the 3rd and final stage above 200km in this race!
Which means that in just three days, the riders are covering more than 600 kilometers - with all of those three stages offering more than 50 KoM points, this journey is close to insanity! Let's see who survives this torture to get a well-deserved rest day tomorrow!
But let's first talk about today. We're in Ashcroft, which is a village of just above 1,500 inhabitants, at the confluence of the Bonaparte and Thompson Rivers. The location was founded in the 1860s, during the Cariboo Gold Rush, and named after a ranch founded by two English brothers emigrating to Canada from... Ashcroft. Copy & Paste has always worked well for names of places.
Despite being small, Ashcroft was a major stop for trains back then, as mining supplies were dropped off here. When the gold rush was over, farming took over - but nowadays exploitation of mineral resources is on the upswing again.
Ashcroft doesn't offer a whole lot of things to see - the bridge crossing Thompson River or the historic fire hall are still worth a sight. And why not take a look at the place's history.
Writing history, that's also something to do today - but it will take a rider having a very good overall skillset to be successful! The first part of the stage is a bit bumpy, but nothing special. There's a category 4 warm-up climb on top of Six Mile Hill - 51km into the stage, though, not just six miles.
And then, the peloton will already reach Kamloops, the central point for the rest of the stage. It's three times the category 3 hill Upper Sahali - and we'll get an interemediate sprint in Kamloops after the first two ascents. The first ascent of Upper Sahali also marks the halfway point of this stage, by the way.
The other climb is Rose Hill - but unlike its romantic name suggests, is a beast, and rightfully offers category 1 KoM points!
After those five climbs - which are tackled in alternating order - it's finally, finally time for the sixth crossing of the finish line - the decisive one! Surely, the riders will remember Kamloops and its surroundings - some with a positive connotation, but for most it will probably be a synonym of suffering.
Kamloops is located to the east of Kamloops Lake, at the confluence of North Thompson River and South Thompson River (which is fitting, as Kamloops means "meeting of the waters" in the Shuswap language). It was incorporated in 1893, and the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad and the Canadian National Railway made Kamloops an important transportation hub.
Nowadays, almost 100,000 people live here - and tons of sport fans are getting here, as Kamloops is promoted as the "Tournament Capital of Canada". So I guess we're arriving at the right place today - although it's only the end of the second week, and not the finale of the Tour(nament) of America.
As said earlier - and confirmed by the profile - only really strong riders will stand a chance of winning today. And despite the official hilly rating, the bookies don't even consider a single puncheur in their favorites list. Instead, we get a classic mountain stage list, topped by Choi, Bennett and Pluchkin. GC leader Faglum Karlsson is next, followed by Ranaweera and Carapaz. Kritskiy, Senni and U25 contenders Eenkhoorn and Zimmermann round off the list.
Let's get started - or rather, let's take a quick look at what happened during the first half of the stage!
What happened so far
Here we go! The riders left Ashcroft this morning for another tough day of cycling, under partly cloudy skies. The sun decided that it was spot on for Zimmermann - a foreshadowing?
The German didn't join the breakaway himself, but one of his teammates did - no one less than Tryg's top puncheur Hoelgaard. The Norwegian was the last rider following the first move, alongside red lantern Taillefour, Healy, La Lavandier, Croes, Kroonen and initial attacker Roman.
An even bigger group, consisting of 9 riders, followed soon after: Orue, Katrasnik, Campenaerts, Chevrier, Hamilton, De Tier, Orosco, Nolf and Pernsteiner.
And... that was it for today! Two attacks, and we already had our breakaway of the day at full strength:
Roman
Katrasnik
De Tier
Taillefour
Chevrier
La Lavandier
Croes
Orosco
Nolf
Hamilton
Orue
Pernsteiner
Campenaerts
Healy
Kroonen
Hoelgaard
Roman is the group's strongest climber, followed by Hamilton, Chevrier and Pernsteiner. The Austrian also is the best puncheur, alongside Hoelgaard, with De Tier and Hamilton also having quite some punch.
The Aussie also has the best kick, closely followed by Roman - and is the best positioned rider in the GC, sitting in 19th position with a 5'54" deficit. Pernsteiner - who is the rider having most KoM points so far (13) - and Hoelgaard are next, sitting in 28th and 43rd position respectively.
At this point, the peloton was already 3 minutes down, and was led by Lutsyshyn, Schomber, Coutinho, Kristoff, Stoltz and Lunder.
On their way east, the escapees reached the 4th category KoM sprint atop Six Mile Hill, with a beautiful view down on Kamloops Lake - which they'll get to see over and over again until the end of the stage. Hoelgaard cared more about points than about views, though.
KoM - Six Mile Hill (4th)
1.
Hoelgaard
5 (13)
2.
Hamilton
3 (13)
3.
Pernsteiner
1 (14)
With just 50 points left on the table after this climb, the list of potential KoM leaders after today's stage was basically reduced to these three plus Roman, Healy, Croes and Chevrier. Magnusson probably wasn't getting too nervous yet, though.
The pack - where Haller and Nizzolo were now contributing to the pacemaking as well - was 7 minutes behind already - but given the climbs left to do, that still wasn't a whole lot.
We usually don't present those pictures during the review part, but well, the view down on Kamloops Lake was just too nice to skip it. Kamloops couldn't be seen from here yet, by the way.
The good news: The riders had reached the finish line after about 90 kilometers.
The bad news: 5 climbs were yet to be done. 111 kilometers to go, with the pack having picked up the pace and trailing by about 5 minutes at this point.
The same three riders were ahead on the first ascent of the Upper Sahali hill. It isn't a particularly tough climb - but given the total elevation gain to cover today, the two remaining ascents of this hill still won't be a walk in the park!
KoM - Upper Sahali #1 (3rd)
1.
Pernsteiner
6 (20)
2.
Hoelgaard
4 (17)
3.
Hamilton
2 (15)
And with this result, the list of potential new KoM leaders was reduced to this trio - plus maybe Chevrier, who could still tie the current leader's score.
Taillefour and Orue were already dropped on this climb and would eventually be reeled in by the pack.
The latter did ease off on this ascent, trailing again by 7 minutes! Roughly 100km to go, 4 climbs left - Rose Hill and Upper Sahali twice each.
And with that, we'll switch over to the live signal, as the breakaway group is approaching the first intermediate sprint!
LIVE +++ LIVE +++ LIVE
Well, sprint might be the wrong word. It's a point in the race where sprint points are awarded, namely as follows:
Sprint - Battle Street #1
1.
Katrasnik
10 (10)
-6"
2.
Healy
6 (10)
-4"
3.
Orosco
4 (5)
-2"
4.
La Lavandier
2 (2)
5.
Kroonen
1 (3)
And Rose Hill is on just after the next right turn! The first 5km are really, really tough, with average slopes of above 10%! The climb eases off towards the top, but overall it's still almost 9km of climbing with average gradients of more than 8%!
Let's see if the group already breaks up on this first ascent, but the second time up here will definitely separate the men from the boys!
A rare view back in the peloton - Haller crosses a sprint line first! Unfortunately for him, no more points are on offer, and he's "just" contributing to the chase. The pack is 6 minutes down, having made up 1 minute of leeway on the downhill.
The pace is pretty high now in both groups, and so another three riders are dropped from the front group: Kroonen, Campenaerts and Nolf. Which is not a real surprise, though.
The peloton isn't making up a lot more ground right now, having gained just 5" on the last couple of kilometers. Which is not surprising, either, given that Schomber is leading them uphill.
If they had any geographic interest, the riders would get a nice view of the confluence of North and South Thompson rivers - but I guess they don't have any more energy to waste now.
Katrasnik and Healy are now gone as well, making the group shrink to 9 riders.
With 2km left to climb, Hamilton is trying a surprise move to finally get maximum points on a climb. And it doesn't look too bad, as he caught both Pernsteiner and Hoelgaard off gaard - ehm, guard.
Only Roman and De Tier were attentive and are following the Aussie's move!
These three are indeed able to get clear - whereas the Podium Ambition pair of Orosco and Croes has to let go as a result of the even higher pace!
And then they were just two - as De Tier was unable to follow as well! Pernsteiner and Hoelgaard have dropped Chevrier and La Lavandier and are closing in on the Belgian.
In the end, Hamilton had the most energy left in the tank, picking up the big points on top of Rose Hill!
KoM - Rose Hill (1st)
1.
Hamilton
16 (31)
2.
Roman
12 (18)
3.
De Tier
10 (10)
4.
Pernsteiner
8 (28)
5.
Hoelgaard
6 (23)
6.
La Lavandier
4 (4)
7.
Chevrier
2 (11)
Hamilton is now tied for 3rd in the virtual KoM standings. With 28 points left, only him and Pernsteiner still are theoretically able to pick up the KoM lead - but they'd need 22 respectively 25 out of those 28 points to match Magnusson's 53 points!
Here we see the Le Creuset duo who just picked up the remaining points; they're 1'16" behind Hamilton and Roman. Orosco and Croes are another 30" down, whereas Healy is about midway between the front and the pack.
The latter, by the way, has again lost momentum and trail by 7'26"! With just 80km to go, they have to wake up soon if they still want to have their say in the fight for the stage win!
But it's rather the opposite happening. Rumac is setting a decent pace, but the pack crosses the line with an 8 minutes deficit!
Still, their speed was enough to drop some pretty strong climbers, such as De la Cruz, Bouchard, Rhim, Ratiy, Bardet or Hibatullah - with the latter being the highest ranked rider to miss out on the main group (14th GC, 2nd U25)!
Given that there are still more than 70km remaining in today's stage, the leaders preferred waiting for some of their breakway companions, to get some better share of the workload. So we're back to 7 riders up front - the 7 who just picked up the KoM points on top of Rose Hill.
Orosco and Croes are both riding individually, and both are still within a minute from the head of the race. I'd say they'd be better off cooperating, but no-one ever asks me for race tactics, so...
The pack is still 7'20" down, let's see if they can cut that deficit back on the not-so-steep downhill!
By the way, Rhim - 15th GC - has dropped back even further - all the way to his teammate Feiereisen... And I can hear Ulrich sigh.
The frontrunners cross the finish line for the 3rd out of 6 times - and Orosco has indeed made it back! Croes is still trailing by 30", though - and the right turn they can already see from here marks the start of the 2nd ascent to Upper Sahali.
The pack, led by Ulysbayev, has just caught Kroonen, and they will see Nolf once they're getting around that next corner. Rumac, Edmondson and Eislers have been contributing to the chase as well - and the gap is indeed down to less than 6 minutes!
Now we have Kipkemboi, Arensman and Aniolkowski joining the pace makers in the pack as well, as they reel in Nolf on the first meters of the climb. The breakaway still includes some stronger climbers than those leading the chase in the pack, so let's see what that means.
Meanhwile, the front group is down to 7 again, as Orosco stands no chance of keeping touch. Croes follows a minute behind his teammate, while Healy and Katrasnik are just a minute ahead of the pack now. And the latter's deficit is down to 5 minutes, so the fight for the stage win is still open!
OK, Healy and Katrasnik WERE a minute ahead of the pack. Just a kilometer later, they're caught by Kipkemboi, who's doing a really good job!
However, the front group has upped the pace as well, and so they've just come 15" closer. 1.5km to climb for the breakaway, 3.5km for the peloton.
By the way, the Hibatullah group is already more than 2 minutes down, so they're gone for good it seems.
700m left to the KoM line, and it's Roman opening the sprint - with Hamilton being very attentive again. In contrast, Hoelgaard either lacked some concentration, or just wants to save some energy for the finale.
Ouch, that must hurt for Roman, as it literally was a pointless sprint for him. Pernsteiner pips Hamilton to the line.
KoM - Upper Sahali #2 (3rd)
1.
Pernsteiner
6 (34)
2.
Hamilton
4 (35)
3.
De Tier
2 (12)
The Austrian moves up to 3rd, one point clear of McCormick, while Hamilton is another point ahead. Both can still take over the dotted jersey today - but both will need points on both remaining climbs. That's a lot of boths there.
The peloton, still led by Kipkemboi, arrives on top 4'51" later - meaning that they were riding pretty much at the same pace as the frontrunners. 52km to go, that will be a tough job to catch those escapees!
The downhill is done, and the second intermediate sprint is as heavily contested as the first one. Not at all. Points go to:
Sprint - Battle Street #2
1.
Chevrier
10 (56)
-6"
2.
La Lavandier
6 (8)
-4"
3.
Pernsteiner
4 (35)
-2"
4.
Hamilton
2 (6)
5.
De Tier
1 (21)
The peloton arrives at the same point only 3'44" later - having gained more than a minute on the descent! With 44km to go, thereof about 15km uphill, the top climbers again have it in their own legs to get the win today!
They're about to catch Orosco, with Croes having been swallowed on the downhill already.
And now there's some real firepower in the pack, as Ratiy comes to the front! Apparently Aru must be feeling pretty good today...
While they've just caught Orosco, Croes is already dropped - it was nice while it lasted.
Still lasting though is the 7-rider breakaway up front - 3'21" ahead. Another 20" gone, it's getting more and more unlikely that they'll actually come through!
Ratiy has done some damage, reducing the pack's deficit to just 2'22" - but he actually did damage himself in the process as well. Lunke is the other strong climber about to get dropped.
Now it's again the really strong Kipkemboi leading the chase, supported by Destribois. Henao is trying to slow them down.
But Kipkemboi is looking spent, and while Aru came to the front at one point, neither him nor anyone else really wanted to push. So the escapees have been able to extend their lead, to 3 minutes. Still more than 4km of climbing up to Rose Hill, though.
The breakaway is still moving faster than the peloton - and it's too fast for La Lavandier and De Tier.
The pack trails by 3'09" and has also dropped the likes of Spilak, Bayly or Squire. And Eislers, finally.
Xandri and Barta are also in troubles, but Choi still has Eenkhoorn and Velasco by his side.
Aru has again taken the lead, but he clearly doesn't want to spend too much energy with the others chilling behind.
Final kilometer of climbing for the breakaway, as Hamilton once again is looking strongest! The others are struggling to respond to his attack - and Chevrier has been dropped a bit earlier anyway.
Hamilton opens a huge gap and easily takes maximum points on top of Rose Hill again.
KoM - Rose Hill #2 (1st)
1.
Hamilton
16 (51)
2.
Roman
12 (30)
3.
Hoelgaard
10 (33)
4.
Pernsteiner
8 (42)
5.
Chevrier
6 (17)
6.
De Tier
4 (16)
7.
La Lavandier
2 (6)
Hamilton moves within 2 points of the KoM lead - a 2nd place on the final ascent of the day and he'd be our new KoM leader!
These 7 are still ahead of the pack, which has considerably slowed down - allowing for some of the previously gapped riders to come back, including the Philips duo.
Here's the current race situation:
Hamilton
+ 39"
Roman
Pernsteiner
Chevrier
+ 49" (+ 1'28")
Chevrier
+ 50" (+ 2'18")
De Tier
+ 13" (+ 2'31")
La Lavandier
+ 1'45" (+ 4'16)
Peloton
46 riders
More than 4 minutes, less than 40km to ride - thereof more than half downhill - now things are looking bright again for the brekaway!
And as Destribois leads the peloton over the top, their deficit is even up to 4'44" - winning the stage clearly doesn't look too realistic anymore for these riders!
The pack actually had upped the pace again towards the top, so all those who made it back before are again dropped - plus some more. None of the GC Top 10, though.
Hamilton again waited for his chasers - with both Roman and Pernsteiner being great downhillers, he'd probably have been caught anyway.
They're dashing past the Upper Sahali KoM point - the next time up here no-one will wait for the others anymore. And the leaders clearly won't be waiting for the pack anyway, with the latter being 4 minutes down with 20km to go!
The bell rings, we're starting the final lap! One more time up to Upper Sahali, back down again - and across the finish line! Who will be first?
By now, it's probably safe to say that it will be one of these four, as Chevrier as the closest chaser is a minute down, and the pack is still 3'48" behind! 15km to go!
Pernsteiner launches the first attack as soon as the climb is on! The other three aren't looking too worried yet and just follow.
The peloton has definitely given up on the stage win, as their deficit is back up to 4 minutes.
4km to the KoM point, and now it's Hamilton who gives it a try! Again, everyone keeps up. It's not the steepest climb, so it won't be easy to get a gap!
Roman is next - and now Pernsteiner cracks! 3km left to climb, and we're down to 3 leaders - or can the Austrian come back?
With 2.5km left to the hilltop, Hamilton accelerates again - and this time he does get a small gap! Is that the decisive move?
When speaking of moves - Aru does the same back in the peloton, just as they're about to catch La Lavandier! For now, only Bennett and Campero can follow - and the Kiwi is just 19" off the GC lead!
However, Faglum Karlsson still has Scarponi and Mosca with him, and these two are neutralizing that attempt.
De Tier is caught now as well, with Chevrier another minute ahead - but the front 4 definitely won't be caught.
10km to go - 1.5km to the KoM sprint - and Hamilton is now simply powering away!
However, he will need a good gap to Roman, given that the latter is a rocket on the descent!
Next attack by Bennett! This time, only Campero is with him, as Aru seems to have shot his bolt already!
Campero has to throw in the towel as well - and Mosca is looking spent, too! Already 15" for Bennett, so Faglum Karlsson's jersey definitely is at high risk!
That's the last climb done for Hamilton - and although he hasn't won the stage yet, there's a reason to celebrate already:
KoM - Upper Sahali #3 (3rd)
1.
Hamilton
6 (57)
2.
Hoelgaard
4 (37)
3.
Roman
2 (32)
We have a new provisional KoM leader! And in less than 10km, "provisional" will be replaced by "official"!
Hoelgaard and Roman trail by 37", Pernsteiner is 1'10" behind. Even though the Austrian is a great downhiller, the same holds for Roman, so we can be looking forward to a great duel!
Faglum Karlsson is actually getting some help from Choi, who doesn't want Bennett to get some time gains, either, and hence sends his top domestique Eenkhoorn to the front!
Chevrier is now overhauled by the Kiwi and probably won't be rewarded for that long breakaway attempt, either.
10km to go for Bennett now, but Eenkhoorn is doing a great job, and the Xero rider's advantage doesn't grow. It looks like another one of his attractive, yet fruitless moves.
However, Eenkhoorn eventually fades as well, and so it's a tired Scarponi taking over again - Bennett has a 14" advantage on top of the hill, can he gain some more seconds on the descent?
It has to be said that he's much stronger uphill than downhill, but you never know...
Bennett is giving all he's got left, but the gap is getting smaller instead of bigger! The pack is just 11" down...
In the meantime, Hamilton has already reached the red kite, and is cruising to a huge win! The gaps between the escapees have actually increased, as he's got a 48" lead now. Pernsteiner is 44" behind Roman and Hoelgaard - the only open question now is who gets 2nd and 3rd!
But first place is for Lucas Hamilton! He was just incredibly strong today, dominating the longer climbs, and eventually leaving everyone behind on the final ascent! Congratulations on a great win!
Hoelgaard and Roman are on the final 1,000m as well, with the Norwegian in the less favorable first position. On the other hand, he's definitely the faster sprinter than the Serb!
But after this brutal stage, it isn't about top speed anymore, it's about energy reserves. Aleksandar Roman has clearly more left in the tank and even gets a 14" gap over Daniel Hoelgaard. Please ignore the two riders in between, they're lapped.
Hermann Pernsteiner is disappointed to miss out on the podium today, after having secured 3rd place two days ago. 4th place for the Austrian.
And how is Bennett doing? He's definitely tenacious, as he's still 12" ahead going onto the final 1,500 meters. Although it looks unlikely that he'll get the GC lead today, can he at least finish ahead of the pack?
Yes, he can - but only just. George Bennett takes 5th, with Torjus Sleen sprinting to a surprising 6th place. Simone Velasco and William Barta (indeed, he fought his way back again) take 7th and 8th for Philips, with Michel Koch and Antonio Pedrero rounding off the Top 10.
All notable GC contenders are in this group, with the only (now former) Top 20 riders missing out being the earlier mentioned Hibatullah and Rhim.
And with Frame crossing the line 39'47" after our stage winner, week 2 of the 2022 Tour of America is officially done!
What obviously remains to be done, of course, is the winner celebration! And today's winner is Lucas Hamilton, congratulations! He was just stronger and/or smarter than his breakaway companions and in the end cruised to a commanding win, 46" ahead of Aleksandar Roman, who gets a 3rd second place for his team! Daniel Hoelgaard narrowly missed out on the podium two days ago - and now swapped positions with Pernsteiner to take 3rd today!
In the end, other teams helped Marcus Faglum Karlsson defend his yellow jersey, chasing down George Bennett, who still sits in 3rd with a 19" deficit. In between, Aleksandr Pluchkin is still luring on 2nd place, just 7" off the lead.
Stage winner Hamilton gained 10 spots today and now is 9th!
And we also do have a new red lantern, with Taillefour moving up two spots. His teammate Joeaar now gets that label.
There were no changes at the top of the points standings, either, with Tom Van Asbroeck's score of 160 points still being 8 more than Ingus Eislers has. Lionel Coutinho is 16 points down.
Bennett however has now moved up to 5th, overtaking Lutsyshyn and Krieger - the Kiwi is looking to be the biggest danger for the sprinters now!
After a 10-day streak in the KoM jersey, Kim Magnusson's reign has come to an end! Having taken over the jersey on stage 4, he now lost in on day 14 - to stage winner Lucas Hamilton! 57 points is the new leading score, which is 4 points more than the Swede currently has.
Hermann Pernsteiner has moved up to 3rd, totalling 42 points, which is 15 points off the lead. However, 183 points are still on offer in week 3, expect some further shakeups! Especially with the new KoM leader also sitting in 9th place in the GC, which might not be too favorable for the continuation of his KoM campaign...
Although he didn't get a notable result himself, it was a good day for U25 leader Georg Zimmermann. It feels like one of his competitors drops out of contention on every stage - today it was Hibatullah who fell from 2nd to 5th, more than 8 minutes behind now.
Instead, Pascal Eenkhoorn moves up to 2nd, 1'57" behind the leader. Thomas Revard in 3rd place is already 5'47" down!
So, that's it for today. An insane 3-day journey with more than 600km of racing - on mostly hilly or mountainous terrain - comes to an end. But it's not like the difficulties are over - not even remotely! For the start of week #3, we'll get the shortest road stage of the tour - and probably the one most sprinters are afraid of due to the time limit! Stay tuned for a final carnage in the British Columbian mountains - before doing the same in the U.S. later on... See you!
Tour of America 
