Bozic blasts to Besseges double

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Race leader Borut Bozic won for the second time in two days at the Etoile de Bessèges, once again out-kicking his rivals to claim victory in stage two's 141-kilometre route from Nimes to St. Ambroix.

The 29-year-old Vacansoleil sprinter bested runner-up Arnaud Molmy (Team Roubaix-Lille Métropole) and third-placed Niko Eeckhout (An Post - Sean Kelly), both podium finishers on the previous stage, in the field sprint to the finish line.

Vacansoleil directeur sportif Hilaire Van Der Schueren was happy with his team's performance. "All eight rode a perfect race and we were in control. The sprint train of Marco Marcato, Alberto Ongarato and Borut Bozic is having a great start of the season and they practice well to stay in front when competition grows in the upcoming weeks."

Bozic remains in the leader's jersey, with time bonuses accounting for his 10-second advantage over Molmy and Eeckhout on general classification.

Cool weather and overcast skies greeted the peloton as it left Nimes and a favorable breeze kept the pace high for the first hour of racing.

Several riders attacked in the stage's opening kilometres, but nothing stuck until the French duo of Laurent Lefevre (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) and Benoît Vaugrenard (Francaise Des Jeux) went clear at kilometre 40. The peloton eased off the gas after covering 45.5 kilometres in the opening hour and by kilometre 50 the escapees' lead extended to two minutes.

Lefevre and Vaugrenard maintained their two-minute advantage for 50 kilometres, but then the peloton started its pursuit in earnest and began to reduce the margin.

By kilometre 97 the leaders' advantage was reduced to 50 seconds and four kilometres later their time off the front came to a conclusion on the first of six 7.3-kilometre finishing circuits in St. Ambroix.

Francaise Des Jeux's Anthony Geslin and Yoann Offredo each made solo attacks on the finishing circuits, but the teams of the sprinters never allowed them more than a 10-second lead.

The bunch stayed together for the final three circuits, controlled by the teams of the sprinters. As the field sped under the flamme rouge and into the closing metres none of the peloton's fast men had an answer for Borut Bozic's finishing speed with the Slovenian claiming his second victory in two days.