The 2nd stage is a almost entirely flat stage. However, with temperatures up to 36 degrees celcius and 173 km to 'travel', it's more than hard enough. Riders to look out for on this stage are primarily the top sprinter Juan Jose Haedo, who's obviously interested in getting some stage wins in his home land, Grillo and Gatto.
However, on a stage like this, there's always some who'd like to 'cheat' the sprinters. Today, these were: Petrie-Armstrong (Vespa - Caffrey's), Mottin (M&M) and Veikkanen (IKEA - Bianchi) - and one of them seemed to be on a special mission as Petrie-Armstrong was the only one to attack to get the mountain points (which he got - and therefore will be wearing the mountain jersey on stage 3).
Petrie-Armstrong also took the 1st sprint, but other than him taking all the points, the three of them worked well together. With less than 100 km to go, they still had an advantage of 10 minutes - and still being stable, actually. Few moments later, Mottin had to let go, and even more surprisingly, Petrie-Armstrong attacked and dropped Veikkanen, who GC-wise was in front of him. Petrie-Armstrong really does live up to his name!
This move cracked Veikkanen completely, and even Mottin rode right past him. You'd think that this would make it easier for the peloton to catch them. With 40 km to go, it didn't seem much like it. Petrie-Armstrong still had a gap of 8'22 to the peloton, and there was no organized chase at this point.
And maybe the news of not being caught anytime soon gave Veikkanen some extra power. He managed to bridge the gap back up to Mottin, and they initiated the chase.
However, in the very same moment, the peloton finally upped the pace, and with 16 km to go, the two were caught. Petrie-Armstrong was still out there, though, on his impossible mission - which all the sudden didn't seem as impossible. At this time, he still has a gap of 4'40, although it's decreasing fast. What seemed weird was that his own team didn't quite believe in him. They had four guys at the front, getting ready to launch Andy Cappelle.
With 7 km to go, the victory seems secure for Petrie-Armstrong! The peloton has stopped chasing and has instead started setting up the trains. It appears that especially Oscar Gatto has a great day, but is it enough?
At the front, it's Gallego leading out for Johansson and Neves. However, in the other train, you have all the stars: It's Borrajo leading out for Grillo, Haedo and Gatto. And in the 'horizon', you can see Petrie-Armstrong. Can he take the yellow jersey? 400 metres to go on this screen.
And it seems like Borrajo has no power today. The sprint train that he's leading isn't moving anywhere. It's Neves and Johansson, who's getting closer and closer to Petrie-Armstrong - but it's not enough. Petrie-Armstrong takes a very unexpected victory. The question is still, though: Can he take the leader's jersey?
No, he's down with 1 second. Lang can keep the jersey for at least one more day. Petrie-Armstrong won't feel too sorry, though. He has taken all the other jerseys!
