Kenny Elissonde wins second stage of 2011 Ronde de l’isard: Cycling News
CC Etupes-Le Doubs team’s Kenny Elissonde won the second stage of2011 Ronde de l’lsard on Saturday, May 21.
The race started in Bordes-sur-Arize and ended at Superbagneres. He won the biggest victory of his young career. Kenny took a total of 4 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds to cover the distance of 144.5 kilometres.
George Bennett of the Trek Livestrong U23 team was also in good form, but he bagged the second place with a difference of 52 seconds behind Kenny.
Joseph Dombrowski finished third in this stage with same timing of George. Rob Squire of the US National team tried his best to catch the three riders, but he failed and grabbed fourth place with 1 minute and 25 seconds adrift.
After winning the second stage Kenny told the media, "I found myself with Joseph Dombrowski but I saw his teammate (Trek-Livestrong, reserve Radio Shack) George Bennett came home, I always knew that it would no longer roll. So at this point, I decided to
attack alone”
The four riders were disqualified including Dorian Lebeau, Victor Cabedo, Jauffrey Betalight and Carter Jones.
The group of three riders made the first break-away, including Thomas Welter of Chambery Cyclisme Formation, Christopher De Souza of Comite de Normandie and Stijn Steels of Jong Vlaanderen-Bauknecht.
Thomas Welter gained advantage of five points and won the first sprint ahead of two cyclists Christopher and Stijn. But after a few kilometres, all of them were caught by the peloton.
In the final climb of the race, the group of fifteen riders made new breaks including Kenny Elissonde (CC Etupes-Le Doubs), Joseph Dombrowski (Trek Livestrong U23) George Bennett (Trek Livestrong U23), Rob Squire (US National Team) and Anthony Soares (CR4C
Roanne).
Joseph Dombrowski was soon joined by George and wanted to take a lead ahead of the other riders, but Kenny had good legs so he maintained his speed in the race. In the final kilometres, he crossed the finish-line ahead of the other cyclists.
Kenny said, "In the end, it was still difficult, with the head wind and heavy rain mixed with hail, I felt like banging against the slope. But ultimately it was the same for everyone,m I was really determined to run intelligently"
Kenny Elissonade also took lead in overall classification with the timing of 7 hours, 32 minutes and 40 seconds. George Bennett was runner-up with 56 seconds behind Kenny.
Joseph Dombrowski was in third spot with a difference of 58 seconds in the overall classification.
The final stage will start in Auterive and end in St. Girons. All the riders will cover a distance of 168.6 kilometres.
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