Criterium International stage 2: Felline wins individual time trial

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Fabio Felline and Bob Jungels gave the Trek Factory Racing first and second place in the seven kilometre afternoon time trial stage 2 at Criterium International.

The Italian set a time of 9:11 for the twisting course around Porto-Vecchio, beating Jungels by a second. Manuel Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo) was third, two seconds slower. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) was fourth, setting him up for a shot at overall victory.

“This afternoon I did not expect to win, not with Bob [Jungels] and a lot of other TT specialists here, but I know that I am feeling good – today was the 9th time this year that I finish in the top 10," Felline said. "So I wanted to make a good result. But now I am here, I have won, and I am super happy!

"To be honest, it was the stage this morning where I was targeting the victory, not this afternoon! But then the breakaway arrived at the finish, and in the end I did not make a good sprint. This makes up for that, but I have to say I am a little surpirsed."

His teammate Jungels added, " Finishing one and two is always great, this is fantastic for the team. It’s always a bit of a strange time trial here - I was five seconds faster than last year. I gave it all of course and I am disappointed to not win, but when it’s a teammate that is beating you, then it’s not so bad. Of course, I came into today really wanting to win, but on the other hand I am very happy for Fabio. If you have to finish second, then it’s best that you finish second to a teammate.”

Stage 1 winner Ben King (Cannondale-Garmin) was 19 seconds slower but retained the overall race lead after his strong performance in the morning road race stage. He goes into stage 3 with a 24-second lead over Clément Saint-Martin (Team Marseille 13 KTM) and 27 seconds ahead of Felline.

The Criterium International will be decided on Sunday during the third and final 176km stage from Port-Vecchio to Col de l’Ospedale.

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