Jonathan Hivert (Saur-Sojasun) won the second road stage of the Tour de Romandie, between Montbéliard and Moutier, in an uphill sprint. The 27-year-old Frenchman came around the outside of a battle between Portuguese Rui Costa (Movistar) and Spaniard Luis León Sánchez (Rabobank) to win the 149.1km stage by half a length to take his first ever victory in a WorldTour event.
Costa was a close second, with his front wheel level with Hivert’s back wheel, and Sánchez managed to hold off a number of others to take third.
"The finish wasn’t easy to negotiate because it was uphill for some time, with corners,” said Hivert afterwards. “The longer it went on, the faster it got.
“I almost got shut out,” he continued. “Some of the others faltered, but I said to myself ‘go on, you can do it.’ At 50 metres, I thought it would be hard to hold on, but I managed to stay in front. I knew just how the finish would be, the guys believed in me and I'm glad that I didn’t disappoint.
“It's really great,” he added. “Previously, there was a beautiful attack from Fabrice Jeandesboz which unfortunately didn’t make it to the finish. Everyone in this team is pulling together and we showed today that we have a good dynamic.”
The stage was characterised by a long breakaway from Christian Meier (GreenEdge) and Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol), who escaped in the early kilometres. The two rouleurs were allowed to get away by the Sky team of race leader and stage one winner Bradley Wiggins’, but were never able to build a lead that looked like a race-winning one.
The duo was caught on the final climb of the day, with little more than 20km to go, which led to a counter move from Peter Stetina (Garmin-Barracuda) and Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur-Sojasun). The two counterattackers were able to get more than 30 seconds clear in the closing kilometres, but a calm chase from Team Sky and GreenEdge saw them brought back on the approach to the finish.
Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) led the sprint to the uphill straight to Moutier’s finish, but the Canadian was passed by the others in the battle for the line. Wiggins was safely in the peloton behind and held on to the yellow jersey for another day.
Meier and Bak get away, but they don’t get far
Almost as soon as the stage had begun, Meier and Bak escaped, with Team Sky leading the peloton behind them. As Bak led over the 3rd category climb to Bourrignon after 53km the duo was 3’35” clear, but this was all that the British team would allow them.
Shortly afterwards, Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM), who’d finished second on the first stage, abandoned the race. The Dutchman, who took second in Paris-Nice back in March, was reported to have abandoned in the feedzone on the previous day until he turned up in the sprint behind Wiggins at the end of the stage; the race organiser had acknowledged that it had been his Uzbeki teammate Sergey Lagutin that had climbed off on stage one, but confirmed that it was Westra - who had come into the race feeling unwell - that had abandoned this time.
Team Sky was keeping the pace steady, holding the two leaders at a fairly constant range, and after 82km, as they approached the summit of the 2nd category Les Ecorcheresses, Meier and Bak were still 3’20” clear. The peloton accelerated a little over the top however, and over the summit after 84.2km, it was down to 2’55”.
Team Sky allowed the gap to widen to more than three and a half minutes again and Branislau Samoilau (Movistar) attacked. The British team was not keen on allowing the Belarusian getting too far however, and began to lift the pace once more. As the race entered the final 50km, the two leaders were 3’29” up the road, with Samoilau just 22 seconds clear of the black, white and blue train.
While his seven Sky teammates were on the front of the peloton, World champion Mark Cavendish was right at the back, having visited his team car; the pace was not so fast as to prevent the Manxman from working his way forward again however.
More issues for Cavendish as the gap begins to close
With 40km to go, the gap to the leaders was down to 2’37” and, with Samoilau back in the fold, Team Sky eased up again. It continued to drop gradually though, as the two rouleurs up ahead began to tire on the hilly parcours. Cavendish was off the back again with another technical problem, waiting for the Team Sky car.
With 30km to go, as the 2nd category climb to La Caquerelle was beginning, Bak and Meier’s lead was down to 1’06”; as the climb got steeper this slender advantage began to quickly evaporate.
As the peloton hit the climb the attacks began, with Peter Stetina (Garmin-Barracuda) getting away, but Team Sky was keeping the peloton close to anything dangerous looking. The pace was having an effect on the less able climbers in the peloton however, and - just as had happened on the previous day - a number were already being shelled out the back.
As one move fades, another goes up the road
Pink mountains jersey wearer Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur-Sojasun) - who had been aggressive in the closing kilometres of the previous stage - jumped away and joined Martin, and the two of them began to close on the leaders. As the gradients hit 15% Bak left Meier behind, and the Dane rode on towards the summit alone.
Meier picked up as the peloton kept the breakaways in check, but as he passed over the top Bak was just five seconds ahead of Stetina and Jeandesboz, with the Sky-led peloton 16 seconds back.
The two counterattackers soon caught and passed Bak, who was quickly swept up by the peloton and, with 26km to go, the two new leaders were 13 seconds clear. Stetina began the day just 19 seconds behind Wiggins - with Jeandesboz at 22 seconds - and they were closing in on the virtual race lead.
Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and Jesus Hernandez (Saxo Bank) were the next to try their luck, pulling a few metres clear on the gradual descent. They were quickly closed down however, leaving just the two riders 16 seconds up the road with 20km to go.
Despite the peloton’s pace, the two leaders were opening up their advantage and, as they passed under the intermediate sprint banner in Delémont with 14.2km to go, they were 31 seconds clear. Green jersey Stef Clement (Rabobank) jumped ahead to take the final point on the line, but it was not an attack and he quickly drifted back again.
Despite the virtual loss of Wiggins’ lead, Team Sky calmly continued with its lead of the peloton, and the gap gradually closed. With 6km to go it was down to ten seconds again, which was down to seven at 5km to go and, as the GreenEdge team took over the chase, the few seconds dissolved.
With 4.1km to go it was all over for Stetina and Jeandesboz, as the Luke Durbridge strung the peloton out towards the finish. Although GreenEdge was on the front, the Saur-Sojasun and Europcar teams were both lurking behind and, with two kilometres to go, Astana and BMC Racing moved forward.
As the road began to rise towards the finish Hesjedal began to accelerate, with Costa and Sánchez fighting to come around him. Hivert came around all of them however, and hit the line a length half a length clear.
Result stage 2
1. Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur-Sojasun
2. Rui Costa (Por) Movistar Team
3. Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Rabobank
4. Gianni Meersman (Bel) Lotto-Belisol
5. Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Barracuda
6. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack-Nissan
7. Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre-ISD
8. Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha Team
9. Allan Davis (Aus) GreenEdge
10. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Astana
Standings after stage 2
1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky
2. Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Sky @ 7s
3. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank @ 9s
4. Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank
5. Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Barracuda @ 11s
6. Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Rabobank
7. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Rabobank
8. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin-Barracuda @ 12s
9. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha Team
10. Ruben Plaza (Spa) Movistar Team