Geraint Thomas takes solo win in Monchique
Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) won stage 2 of this year’s Volta ao Algarve today.
The British rider attacked on the final climb to catch early escapee, Rein Taaramae (Astana), and clinch the victory almost 20 seconds ahead of the Estonian rider.
Meanwhile, Valerio Agnoli (Astana) led home world champion Michal Kwiaktkowski (Etixx-Quickstep) and teammate Zdenek Stybar at 23 seconds behind.
As a result of his victory today, along with time bonuses, Thomas now leads Taaramae in the general classification by 30 seconds, with Stybar and Kwiatkowski following a further 3 seconds behind.
Race Highlights
Today’s stage got underway with a five man breakaway group containing Marcel Sieberg (Lotto Soudal), Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Argon 18), Frabricio Ferrari (Rural Seguros RGA-Caja), Wesley Kreder (Team Roompot) and Ivan Balykin (RusVelo). And, at one point, the escapees built up a sizable advantage over the peloton of almost five minutes.
However, as the race reached the climbs of the final circuit(s), the quintet was reeled in by the peloton – with 25 kilometers remaining.
From there, the peloton experienced but another breakaway group of five riders, this time containing Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Astana), Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), Ian Boswell (Sky), Phil Gaimon (Optum) and Alberto Gallego (Rádio Popular-Boavista).
However, just as their predecessors, the quintent was reeled in just before the start of the final climb, wherein Taaramae launched a ferocious attack.
As Taaramae appeared to be on his way to victory, Thomas was able to bridge himself to the Estonian rider, and subsequently drop his rival to seize the win.
Stage 2 Results
GBR 1 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) 4:59:13 EST 2 TAARAMAE, Rein (ASTANA) + 19 ITA 3 AGNOLI, Valerio (ASTANA) + 23 ESP 4 SANCHEZ GIL, Luis Leon (ASTANA) POL 5 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) CZE 6 STYBAR, Zdenek (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) ESP 7 LOSADA ALGUACIL, Alberto (KATUSHA) RUS 8 CHERNETSKI, Sergei (KATUSHA) NOR 9 NORDHAUG, Lars Petter (SKY) ITA 10 PUCCIO, Salvatore (SKY)
General Classification after Stage 2 GBR 1 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) 9:12:56 EST 2 TAARAMAE, Rein (ASTANA) + 30 CZE 3 STYBAR, Zdenek (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 33 POL 4 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) ESP 5 SANCHEZ GIL, Luis Leon (ASTANA) AUS 6 PORTE, Richie (SKY) RUS 7 CHERNETSKI, Sergei (KATUSHA) GER 8 MARTIN, Tony (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) POR 9 MACHADO, Tiago (KATUSHA) ESP 10 LOSADA ALGUACIL, Alberto (KATUSHA)
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