Saxo Bank's Swedish time trial specialist, Gustav Larsson, won the stage two race against the clock of the Tour du Limousin. Larsson covered the 45 kilometers in 53 minutes and 30 seconds, 20 seconds faster than Rabobank's Sebastian Langeveld. Both riders are also one-two in the overall now.
The Swedish rider liked the route a lot. "It was a perfect win for me. The course had a few climbs along the way but I was simply going full gas through the stretch. You have to suffer from beginning to end to win a time trial. The chances of taking an overall win are good but it's always hard to control the peloton. I have a strong team in front of me and I'm confident," said Larsson.
Langeveld felt early that he was on to a good ride, "even though I started with a little bit of reserve left. In knew the second part was the toughest, especially in combination with the headwind." The Dutchman received constant time checks along the way. Extra motivation came by later. "The second part was indeed really hard, but I received a tremendous boost when I saw the guy who started ahead of me and then I even passed him."
Langeveld is not known for contesting the win in a long 'conte la montre'. "I have done long time trials some in the Vuelta and the Tour." Then he works for his captain and has no desire to put in an extra effort beyond safely making the time cut. Today he wanted to really go for it. "Tuesday, in the first stage, I felt already very well," Langeveld said. "That it will directly become a second place in such a strong field obviously surprises me. Before the race, I had the feeling that a top ten would be really good."
Langeveld will now look both ways, trying to unseat Larsson for the win but also making sure nobody is sneaking up on him from behind. "I will try to stay with Larsson and possibly try to profit from a weak moment. But I also need to look back." Two strong Frenchman, Nicolas Vogondy and Sylvain Chavanel are sitting 23 and 30 seconds behind Langeveld, respectively. "Especially from Chavanel I still expect an attack for the overall," Langeveld said. "Chavanel was already really good on Tuesday over the last rise. What I saw was impressive."
Larsson's teammate Michael Morkov rode a strong time trial and is now fifth overall. There are two more stages to go. Tomorrow, stage three is from Uzerche to Mansac over 191.5km.
Results stage 2 - time trial Saint Amand Montron (45.1km)
1. LARSSON Gustav TEAM SAXO BANK 00:53:30
2. LANGEVELD Sebastian RABOBANK 00:53:50 + 00' 20''
3. VOGONDY Nicolas BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM 00:54:13 + 00' 43''
4. CHAVANEL Sylvain QUICK STEP 00:54:20 + 00' 50''
5. BODROGI Laszlo TEAM KATUSHA 00:54:29 + 00' 59''
6. TAARAMAE Rein COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 00:54:51 + 01' 21''
7. MORKOV Michael TEAM SAXO BANK 00:54:53 + 01' 23''
8. MOREAU Christophe CAISSE D'EPARGNE 00:55:01 + 01' 31''
9. LÖVKVIST Thomas SKY PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM 00:55:03 + 01' 33''
10. CIONI Dario David SKY PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM 00:55:15 + 01' 45''
General Classification after stage 2
1. LARSSON Gustav TEAM SAXO BANK 05:36:19
2. LANGEVELD Sebastian 23 RABOBANK 05:36:39 + 00' 20''
3. VOGONDY Nicolas BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM 05:37:02 + 00' 43''
4. CHAVANEL Sylvain QUICK STEP 05:37:09 + 00' 50''
5. MORKOV Michael TEAM SAXO BANK 05:37:38 + 01' 19''
6. TAARAMAE Rein COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 05:37:40 + 01' 21''
7. MOREAU Christophe CAISSE D'EPARGNE 05:37:50 + 01' 31''
8. LÖVKVIST Thomas SKY PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM 05:37:52 + 01' 33''
9. CIONI Dario David SKY PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM 05:38:04 + 01' 45''
10. ROJAS GIL Jose Joaquin CAISSE D'EPARGNE 05:38:10 + 01' 51''