Tour de l’Avenir kick-off
British cyclist Alex Dowsett has taken the overall lead in the Tour de l’Avenir after the second stage, despite finishing in the pack at 22nd place, eight seconds behind the stage winner Anthony Delaplace. Dowsett finished Sunday’s 7km prologue in barely over nine minutes for second place, six seconds behind American Taylor Phinney at 8:55.
“I came here to win stages so I’ll try for victory tomorrow; it would be really great to win in yellow,” said Phinney. “In the General classification, I do not know... I feel pretty good, I do my best to keep the Jersey. We'll see how far I can get."
The Brit’s current leadership of the Tour is a stroke of luck. He finished ninth in stage one but remained in second overall because the top 10 riders finished in the same time. His leader’s jersey is not so much because of how ‘well’ he did in his 22nd-place finish in the second stage, but rather it’s because of how poorly Phinney did.
Phinney finished stage two in last place, the 118th rider across the finish line, 19 minutes and 10 seconds behind Delaplace, the stage winner, and 2:27 behind the second last finisher, Timothy Kennaugh, who himself was over five minutes behind trailing five-man group. With the group finish in stage one, Phinney was able to hold on to the leader’s jersey he earned in the prologue and wear it into the second stage.
"The day went well,” said Phinney after the first stage. “The team controlled the race well, without too much effort. I have liked to have gone for the victory, but I pulled my foot out in full sprint 300 metres from the line. I am a little disappointed with my fifth place, but rather confident for the rest.”
The 21-year-old German cyclist John Degenkolb, for HTC-Columbia won the 144.5km first stage. The day featured two major solo attacks by French cyclists. The first was taken down after the summit of the first climb and setup Delaplace, the stage two winner, to take the lead until 10km from the finish line. Degenkolb jumped ahead at 400m from the finish to win the stage.
"The Americans, the French and Swiss all rode very strong at the end but my team worked really well," said Degenkolb after his victory. “It was a very tough uphill sprint and I had to start from a long way out. Fortunately, I had good legs. I am very happy to have won, since the competition is particularly tough."
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