The Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), one of the best sprinters today, He had no rivals in the final sprint of the second stage in Tirreno-Adriaticoof 198km, and easily took the victory, crossing with open arms in a race where the Spaniard Juan Ayuso (UAE) reached the finish line 3 seconds behind and retained the overall lead.
Stage from less to more. Calm at the start and out of control later, with lots of activity and an eventful finish after 4:32:07 of duration where Philipsen again showed all his potential in the last meters.
The Belgian was ahead of his compatriot Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Eritrean Biniam Hailu Girmay completed the podium. He has no rival in decisive moments.
After the millimeter victory of the Spaniard Juan Ayuso (UAE) in the first contact of the “race of the two seas”, in a time trial in which he took the ‘Maglia Azzurra’ as the leader of the competition after winning a second with the favorite against the clock, the Italian Filippo Gana (INEOS), the real competition started on a 198km stage between Camaiore and Follonica, both towns on the Tirreno side.
A route designed for the sprint finish – ideal for a Philipsen that did not disappoint – due to its almost flat conditions except for the climb to the Castellina Marittima pass – which crowned Bais (EOLO-Kometa) as the first leader of the mountain – but a small escape was tried to be avoided thanks to the tolerance of a platoon that remained undaunted.
The platoon, calm before fleeing
There was an initial escape that tried to avoid an equal finish, starring, in addition to Bais, the Swiss Jan Stöckli (Team Corratec) and the Italians Lorenzo Quartucci (Team Corratec) and Filippo Magli (Green Project-Bardiani), already They reached 5:30 minutes behind the peloton at their maximum advantagein the first 30 kilometers of the stage.
From that moment, near the Pisa area, the breakaway began to lose power and the peloton cut 2:30 minutes without any effort, reducing the distance after the first 100km, just after Bais took the lead on the mountain. .
The rejection favored the majority group, fresher. He pushed Alpecin-Deceuninck 80 kilometers from the finish line to prepare the ground for his best sprinter, Philipsen, leaving the peloton just 50 seconds behind. The escape has numbered kilometers. And Philipsen was rubbing his hands together.
Of course, the intermediate sprint, with 60 km to go, gave a bonus to the brave who set sail with 5 points (3 seconds) for Stockli, 2 seconds for Quartucci and one for Magli.
Stockli’s effort to make the intermediate sprint in an attack 600 meters from the point left Quartucci and Magli sentenced, unable to keep up with the Swiss pace and joining the peloton a few kilometers later. Stockli was swallowed up by the masses in just over 35km.
When the escape was over, Philipsen was king
When the dream of the escapees ended, the real race began. There was a lot of fighting to get the first positions to prepare the sprinters and the speed (about 50 km/h) of the race increased a lot. There was a fall without consequences, Mark Cavendish (Astana) had a puncture and was left with no chance to sprint.
The accidents did not end at the end of the stage and the English Chris Froome (Israel Premier Tech) could not finish.
In the middle of all the final chaos and confusion, Alpecin-Deneuninck did their good job to place Philipsen. Ayuso was in a good position, but once the Belgian beast started there was nothing he could do. In time to look both ways, feeling like a winner, he raised his arms at the finish line. He had no rivals in the final meters.
Ayuso will be the triple leader (overall, points and youth) in the third stage.
Tyrrhenian-Adriatic
Stage 2 classification
1 – Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck) – 4h32’07”
2 – Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) st
3 – Biniam Girmay (Intermarché – Wanty) st
Tyrrhenian-Adriatic
Overall ranking
1 – Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates)
2 – Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) at 1″
3 – Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) on 12″
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
