Tour du Limousin: Vuillermoz wins stage 2

Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R La Mondiale) won stage 2 of the Tour du Limousin on the uphill finish at Le Maupuy Les Monts de Guéret, beating Francesco Gavazzi (Androni Giocattoli) and Eduard Prades (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) to the line.

Vuillermoz responded to accelerations from Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and race leader Elie Gesbert (Fortuneo-Oscaro) on the final haul to the line and then proceeded to rip clear in the final 200 metres to claim the stage honours.

Gavazzi won the sprint for second place from Prades, while Martin held on for third place ahead of Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie). Gesbert, an impressive winner on stage 1, had to settle for 11th place here, good enough to retain the race leader, four seconds ahead of Vuillermoz.

There was an aggressive start to the day’s racing, with fast man Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) forcing his way clear in the company of Angel Madrazo (Delko Marseille-Provence KTM), Oscar Riesebeek (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij), Fabien Canal (Armée de Terre), Fabien Doubey (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Aitor Gonzalez (Euskadi Basque Country-Murias) in the opening kilometres.

With Gonzalez helping himself to the king of the mountains points on a hilly afternoon of racing, the sextet built an advantage of more than 3:30 before Gesbert’s Fortuneo-Oscaro team set about closing down the move to protect the yellow jersey.

AG2R La Mondiale took up the reins with 70 kilometres to go and their efforts quickly reduced the break’s advantage to the bare minimum. Coquard and the escapees were eventually caught just with 52 kilometres remaining.

Guillaume Martin led over the first ascent of the Côte du Maupuy before François Bidard (AG2R La Mondiale) slipped off the front over the other side, to be joined by teammate Cyril Gautier Romain Seigle (FDJ), Jon Irisarri (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Romain Sicard (Direct Energie) and Thomas Degand (Wanty-Groupe Gobert).

This group established a maximum lead of a minute over a peloton reduced to just 50 or so riders, but they were swept up once again in the final 10 kilometres ahead of the final climb of the Côte du Maupuy.

Sicard made another attempt to forge clear just before the final ascent, but his move with Jerome Baugnies (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Jimmy Raibaud (Armée de Terre) was quickly snuffed out.

Bruno Armirail (FDJ) began the hostilities on the final haul to the line, launching a determined effort with a shade under 3 kilometres to go, before the yellow jersey Gesbert came to the front of a dwindling peloton to shut it down.

Gesbert was again to the fore when Martin unleashed a fine attack in the final kilometre. The yellow jersey bridged across, only to be caught and passed by a sparkling Vuillermoz in the final 200 metres. Vuillermoz, a former mountain biker, has previous on this sort of finish. He won at Mur de Bretagne on the 2015 Tour de France, and he unfurled a crisp acceleration to claim the honours on the Côte du Maupuy.

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