photo credits @ Tirreno-Adriatico
Geraint Thomas redeemed Team Sky for its disastrous team time trial performance during yesterday’s opening stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico, with a solo victory in Pomarance today.
The British rider managed to hold-off his closest rival, Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb), to claim the stage honors ahead of a sprint finale being led by World Champion Peter Sagan (Bora Hansgrohe).
“My attack wasn’t planned really. We just wanted to be well positioned in the steep part of the climb. We rode really hard and when Bob [Jungels] attacked, I was feeling ok and Kwiato [Michal Kwiatkowski] said on the radio ‘have a go!’ That’s what I did. I didn’t think it was going to stick until 150 meters to go but I’m pleased to get that win. We’ve worked really hard since November. I haven’t raced since the Tour Down Under so I wasn’t sure how I’d cope with the rhythm of the race after the training camp in South Africa. Fighting for positions when the bunch moved, I was obviously feeling ok”, said Thomas after the stage.
Race Highlights
A breakaway group containing Hugo Houle (AG2R-La Mondiale), Davide Ballerina and Raffaella Bonus (Andiron Giocattoli), Mirco Maestri (Bardiani CSF), Alan Marangoni (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Charles Planet (Novo Nordisk), managed to escape early on in today’s stage.
From there, the sextet went on to establish an advantage of more than five minutes over the main field.
However, a determined peloton being led under the auspices of BMC Racing worked in earnest to reduce the breakaway group’s lead, eventually reining them in during the last 27 kilometers.
A series of attacks then followed, but no rider was able to create a gap over the peloton.
However, with three kilometers to go, Thomas initiated his winning move, subsequently creating enough of a gap that would see the Sky rider remain outside of the clutches of the chase being led by Bob Jungels (Quick-Step), Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) and Damiano Caruso (BMC).
From there, Thomas crossed solo the finish line with a 9 second gap over Dumoulin, who had attacked during the closing meters, while Sagan, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Franceso Gavazzi (Andiron Giocattoli) brought the rest of the peloton home.
Greg van Avermaet continues to lead the General Classification, followed by his teammates Rohan Dennis and Tejay Van Garderen.
Stage 2 Results GBR 1 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) 5:51:44 NED 2 DUMOULIN, Tom (SUNWEB) + 9 SVK 3 SAGAN, Peter (BORA – HANSGROHE) BEL 4 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) ITA 5 GAVAZZI, Francesco (ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI) POL 6 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (SKY) GBR 7 YATES, Adam (ORICA – SCOTT) AUS 8 DENNIS, Rohan (BMC RACING) COL 9 QUINTANA, Nairo (MOVISTAR) AUS 10 CLARKE, Simon (CANNONDALE DRAPAC) ITA 11 FELLINE, Fabio (TREK – SEGAFREDO) ESP 12 MORENO, Daniel (MOVISTAR) POL 13 MAJKA, Rafal (BORA – HANSGROHE) NOR 14 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (DIMENSION DATA) SLO 15 ROGLIČ, Primož (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) ITA 16 POZZOVIVO, Domenico (AG2R LA MONDIALE) ITA 17 NIBALI, Vincenzo (BAHRAIN – MERIDA) NED 18 MOLLEMA, Bauke (TREK – SEGAFREDO) COL 19 BERNAL GOMEZ, Egan Arley (ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI) ESP 20 SANCHEZ GIL, Luis León (ASTANA) COL 21 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (CANNONDALE DRAPAC) NED 22 TERPSTRA, Niki (QUICK – STEP FLOORS) SUI 23 REICHENBACH, Sébastien (FDJ) ITA 24 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) ESP 25 CASTROVIEJO, Jonathan (MOVISTAR) NED 26 GESINK, Robert (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) USA 27 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) ESP 28 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (SKY) CZE 29 KREUZIGER, Roman (ORICA – SCOTT) DEN 30 ANDERSEN, Søren Kragh (SUNWEB) ITA 31 CARUSO, Damiano (BMC RACING) FRA 32 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ) CRC 33 AMADOR BIKKAZAKOVA, Andrey (MOVISTAR) LUX 34 JUNGELS, Bob (QUICK – STEP FLOORS) FRA 35 GENIEZ, Alexandre (AG2R LA MONDIALE) SLO 36 ŠPILAK, Simon (KATUSHA ALPECIN) BEL 37 WELLENS, Tim (LOTTO SOUDAL) NOR 38 LAENGEN, Vegard Stake (UAE Team Emirates) ITA 39 ROSA, Diego (SKY) ITA 40 CATTANEO, Mattia (ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI) ITA 41 SCARPONI, Michele (ASTANA) POR 42 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (UAE Team Emirates) SLO 43 MOHORIC, Matej (UAE Team Emirates) + 18 ITA 44 VISCONTI, Giovanni (BAHRAIN – MERIDA) ITA 45 CANOLA, Marco (NIPPO – VINI FANTINI) + 23 BEL 46 STUYVEN, Jasper (TREK – SEGAFREDO) + 31 BEL 47 ROELANDTS, Jurgen (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 39 ITA 48 BETTIOL, Alberto (CANNONDALE DRAPAC) + 48 ITA 49 MONTAGUTI, Matteo (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 57 AUT 50 PREIDLER, Georg (SUNWEB) + 1:30
General Classification after Stage 2 BEL 1 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) 6:15:14 AUS 2 DENNIS, Rohan (BMC RACING) USA 3 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) ITA 4 CARUSO, Damiano (BMC RACING) NED 5 TERPSTRA, Niki (QUICK – STEP FLOORS) + 16 LUX 6 JUNGELS, Bob (QUICK – STEP FLOORS) COL 7 QUINTANA, Nairo (MOVISTAR) + 21 ESP 8 MORENO, Daniel (MOVISTAR) SUI 9 REICHENBACH, Sébastien (FDJ) ESP 10 CASTROVIEJO, Jonathan (MOVISTAR) FRA 11 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ) CRC 12 AMADOR BIKKAZAKOVA, Andrey (MOVISTAR) GBR 13 YATES, Adam (ORICA – SCOTT) + 24 SLO 14 ROGLIČ, Primož (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 39 NED 15 GESINK, Robert (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) NED 16 DUMOULIN, Tom (SUNWEB) + 49 BEL 17 WELLENS, Tim (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 51 NOR 18 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (DIMENSION DATA) + 52 ITA 19 NIBALI, Vincenzo (BAHRAIN – MERIDA) ESP 20 SANCHEZ GIL, Luis León (ASTANA) + 54
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