photo credits @ WTFK
Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) powered to victory in stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse today, after the French rider accelerated away from Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) during the closing 150 meters to snatch the win ahead of his Belgian rival who appeared to have suffered an untimely mechanical problem at the start of his spirit.
Coquard quietly bided his time throughout the day, latching onto De Lie’s wheel during the sprint, subsequenlty fending-off a late charge from Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) to seize the stage honors.
De Lie and his Lotto Dstny team had reeled in a late attack from Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost), but dropping his chain in the final sprint left him banging the handlebars across the line as he settled for third.
Meanwhile, Yves Lampaert (Soudal Quick-Step) held onto the leader’s yellow jersey after his stage 1 victory, coming home safely just behind the bunch sprint despite some splits forming over the crest of the final climb.
Race Highlights
Just a few kilometers after the start saw a five-man breakaway group featuring Gerben Kuypers (Intermarché-Wanty), Antoine Debons (Corratec-Vini Fantini), Félix Stehli (Switzerland), Luca Jenni (Switzerland) and Roberto Carlos González (Corratec-Vini Fantini) jettisoned the peloton.
From there, the quintet went on to estbalish an advanatge of around five minutes mid stage, before it began to dwindle as the race headed towards the hills.
With 14km to go, the breakway group imploded, with Jenni forging ahead as they reached the foot of the Regensberg. But, despite the Swiss rider’s efforts, he was caught around the halfway point of the climb by a marauding Alpecin-Deceuninck team.
Instigated by Søren Kragh Andersen, the Belgian team’s charge saw around 35 riders open a gap on the rest of the peloton as they descended the hill with around 10km to go.
However, it was no avail, as the race came back together at the foot of the descent with 5km to go, only to see an attack by Bettiol.
Yet, the Italian rider was eventually caught with 1.2km to go.
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