Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) claimed stage 2 of the Tirreno-Adriatico today, after the Dutch rider overhauled Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in a sprint finish to snatch the stage honors in Follonica with a well-timed bike throw.
Meanwhile, Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) looked poised for victory, before Jakobsen and Philipsen shot past him at the line.
“I knew I came with speed. Fernando went really early but he was fast. I jumped with Philipsen – you never know for sure, we’ve seen a lot of photo finishes now. I guess there are a lot of good sprinters.”I want to see the photo,” Jakobsen said. “It was close, I think.”
Race Highlights
A day for the sprinters, the mostly flat route saw five riders go up the road early on that included Roland Thalmann (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Mirco Maestri and Davide Bais (EOLO – Kometa), Alessandro Iacchi and Stefano Gandin (Team Corratec).
Maestri, Iacchi and Thalmann were the last survivors of a stage, with the trio getting reeled in with 20 kilometers to go.
With a small hilltop just inside the final 10 kilometers it was a tense approach with many teams trying to stay in the front, as tensions continued to grow as the finale approached.
Gaviria was the first to launch his sprint, subsequently opening up a slight gap that appeared to stick. But as the road started to kick up toward the finish, Jakobsen and Philipsen came around the Colombian rider to seize the top spots on the podium.
In the overall standings, Filippo Ganna’s stunning win in the time trial on Stage 1 for Ineos Grenadiers means he is still 28 seconds ahead of Lennard Kammna (Bora–Hansgrohe), with Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) a further three seconds behind.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
