June 10/09 17:41 pm - Tour de Beauce: Stage 2 photos, report and results

Posted by Editoress on 06/10/09
 

Another day, another breakaway at the Tour de Beauce.  However, unlike stage one, where the break gained minutes on the peloton, today's second stage saw the leaders literally roll across the line with the pack on their heels.

Photos

Darren Lapthorne (Rapha Condor) took the stage victory after attacking his breakaway companions in the final kilometres, with Canadian Phil Cortes (Garneau-Club Chaussure) just nipping Peter Stetina (Felt-Holowesko Garmin) for second, and Charles Dionne (Fly V Australia) leading in the field.

There were no changes in the GC, with Danilo Wyss (BMC) still holding the Yellow Jersey by seven seconds over Darren Lill (Team Type 1) and nine over Ryan Roth (Planet Energy).

With all the major teams except Garmin represented in the front group yesterday, it was no surprise when that team became very aggressive in the opening kilometres of the 161 kilometre stage that started and ended in Thetford Mines, northwest of St-Georges.  It had rained overnight, and the roads were rough even by Beauce standards, so the leading teams were comfortable in letting the right move go.

The right move turned out to be Lapthorne and Stetina at 30 kilometres, joined at 37 kilometres by Cortes, who bridged up solo from a disinterested peloton.

"It was the right time to go," said Cortes.  "Everyone was sitting up and looking around, so I was able to go right across."

Lapthorne and Stetina even slowed up a bit waiting for Cortes; knowing their chances improved significantly with a third rider to share the workload.  Once Cortes was there, the three began to make some time on the BMC-led peloton - up to two minutes by the 40 kilometre mark and nearly four minutes after 50 kilometres.

By 70 kilometres, the gap was up to 5:15, and Lapthorne was the race leader on the road.  BMC was still towing the peloton along, with no help.

"We were prepared to let it go," revealed BMC Director Mike Sayers.  "I told the other teams that we would ride tempo, but weren't necessarily going to defend the jersey."

However, course and weather conditions may have helped the chasers.  A long one lane bridge at the 82 kilometre mark with a wooden plank surface was deemed too dangerous to race on by officials [it was almost unrideable even at slow speeds].  So all the riders were stopped, gingerly made their way across the bridge, and then restarted with the break given its 5:05 lead.

The momentum for the break had clearly dissipated, plus the peloton got a real feel for how much of a lead the break had while they sat around waiting to start.

By the 100 kilometre mark the gap was down to 4:30, and 20 kilometres later the Colombians sent a rider up to the front and it went below four minutes.  At 25 kilometres, Planet Energy joined the chase, sending up four guys, and it quickly dropped to 2:35, then less than two minutes with 13 kilometres remaining.

Coming back into Thetford Mines for two laps of a 3.4 kilometre circuit, the lead was down to 40 seconds and, at the start of the final lap, below 30 seconds, with the full Planet Energy team at the front to set up either Keven Lacombe or Martin Gilbert.

Lapthorne attacked the other two in the final circuit to open up a three second gap which he held to the line, while Cortes led in Stetina for the other podium spots.

"I was looking at Stetina and he was looking at me, and that's when Lapthorne went, with about 2.5 kilometres to go.  He got about 150 metres on us right away, and I think we were closing, but ran out of time.  I didn't realize they were so close behind us; I sat up after the finish and almost got run over.  Still, I've got to be happy; second at Beauce in our home race, this definitely is among my top-three results."

Race Notes

- Peter Stetina didn't show up for the podium, apparently disappointed over not winning.  Commented Mike Sayers:  "He's a strong rider, and I like his racing style, but that's racing; you don't disrespect the race like this, not showing up."

- Tomorrow is the Queen stage of the race - Mont Megantic.  The 155 kilometre stage has three categorized climbs, but it is the final one that counts - the six kilometre ride up to the Observatory at the top.  The entire climb averages over 10%, with an early kicker at the bottom of over 18%.  We can expect to see some significant changes in the GC tomorrow.  Racing begins at 10:00 am, and we will begin our live coverage then.