The French rider Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) has won the second stage of the 54th edition of the Race of the Two Seas, 195km from Camaiore to Pomarance, ahead of Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team) and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education First). The British rider, Adam Yates (Mitchelton – Scott), is the new leader of the GC and was awarded the Maglia Azzurra.
On Pi Day, the Tirreno-Adriatico organisers put on the table an 8km-long final climb which posed a different type of a dilemma to some of the riders: when was the best moment to attack and go for the win? First accelerations came with six kilometres to go, but didn’t spread any panic in the bunch, who at that point was seriously strung out following an impressive tempo set by the entire Deceuninck – Quick-Step team in the run-in to the ascent.
Kasper Asgreen fired off the front and managed to split the peloton, a small group immediately forming. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner Zdenek Stybar jumped from the field and joined the party, but the bunch regrouped as they approached the closing kilometer and bridged across with 400 meters remaining. Greg Van Avermaet (CCC) was the first to kick out when they passed the 200 meters-to-go mark, but Julian Alaphilippe’s sharp sprint turned out to be more powerful on the uphill finish, allowing the Strade Bianche champion to sail to a comfortable win, which saw him move up to eighth overall.
“This victory makes me very happy, but I’m not thinking about the blue jersey, as I prefer to take it day by day and see what happens. Yesterday we lost time in the TTT and we were very motivated for this stage, so I’m happy I could finish it off with the help of my teammates. Tomorrow we will ride for Elia, because it’s a good opportunity for him. We continue to remain the same strong and united Wolfpack, always ready to work hard in order to achieve our goals”, said Julian, the first Frenchman since 2009 to pick up a win at Tirreno-Adriatico, who now leads two classifications (points and KOM).
The Maglia Azzurra, Adam Yates, said: “We rode great yesterday and it just happened that today was an uphill finish, so I’m in the lead, although this finish doesn’t suit me down to the ground. I don’t know how long we’ll hold onto it but we’ll try our best.”
Stage 2 Brief Results:
- Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) in 4h48’09″
- Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team) s.t.
- Alberto Bettiol (EF Education First) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 2:
- Adam Yates (Mitchelton – Scott)
- Brent Bookwalter (Mitchelton – Scott) s.t.
- Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo – Visma) at 7″
Stage 3 – Pomarance – Foligno 226km
The route is very long and quite wavy in the first part, where it follows the undulations of the territory of Siena and takes in categorised climbs up Passo del Rospatoio and Passo della Foce. Past Chiusi, the route levels out and rolls along the Trasimeno plain on mainly straight roads (narrow at points), all the way to Foligno.
The final kilometres are quite uncomplicated up to 2,500m from the finish. From here on, a series of bends leads all the way to the home straight, and the road narrows at points. There is just one last slight bend 500m before the finish. The home straight is 160m long, on 7m wide tarmac.
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