Ahlstrand claims stage 2 at Circuit Cycliste Sarthe

Jonas Ahlstrand showed that Giant-Shimano has more sprinters in its line-up than Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb when he claimed stage 2 of the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire. Ahlstrand beat race leader Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr) in a bunch gallop. It was the second day in a row the race ended in a mass sprint.

The stage featured the same finish that had made Garmin's Michel Kreder a winner on two occasions in Angers in the past.

"I knew from last year that it was an unusual sprint with a roundabout at the end," Ahlstrand said. "I stayed in the top 20 in the final lap. Before the downhill, I positioned myself behind Bouhanni who had four guys left with him. Then Trek came to the front for [Giacomo] Nizzolo, and I moved up. I had to sprint before Bouhanni"

Bouhanni was unfazed by not being able to repeat his success from last year at the same location. "I passed the roundabout in second position, but he [Ahlstrand] came from behind, and I just couldn't pass him again," Bouhanni said. "This sprint is always special."

"My biggest goal this season was to win a bunch sprint and it's done already," said Ahlstrand. "Usually I play an important part in the lead-out train for Marcel [Kittel] and John [Degenkolb], but it was clear during the last two months that I was going to come here for a win. I was in good shape in the past few races I did: Criterium International, Limburg and De Panne. Yesterday I had great legs but I wasn't well positioned. Beating Bouhanni on his home soil in France makes it a big victory."

Ahlstrand is the first Swede to impose himself at the Circuit de la Sarthe-Pays de la Loire since Thomas Löfkvist, who won the last stage and the overall classification 10 years ago during his debut with FDJ and is now competing again under the colors of IAM Cycling.

"I also knew about this race from my good friend [and also former FDJ rider] Johan Lindgren, who lived just around the corner from this finishing line in Angers," said Ahlstrand, who expressed high hopes for fellow Giant-Shimano teammate and Swede Tobias Ludvigsson, winner of Etoile de Bessèges, to do well in the afternoon's 6.8km individual time trial.

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