La Course by Le Tour de France 2017: Stage 2 Results

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The La Course pursuit podium (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) in the middle of the La Course podium (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Lizzie Deignan (Boels Dolmans) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) out on course (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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The La Course podium in the Orange Velodrome podium (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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The second day of racing at La Course (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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A group of pursuers working together at La Course (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Lauren Stephens in a group of chasers at La Course (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Amanda Spratt at La Course (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Annemiek van Vleuten at La Course (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Annemiek van Vleuten en route to victory at La Course (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Amanda Spratt with chasers at La Course (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Megan Guarnier working for teammate Lizzie Deignan on the second day of La Course (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Annemiek van Vleuten on the way to winning La Course (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig leading a group of pursuers on the second day of La Course (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

Annemiek van Vleuten (Orica-Scott) easily won stage 2 of La Course, taking the pursuit stage by 1:40 over Lizzie Deignan (Boels Dolmans) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5). She covered the 22.5km around Marseille in a time of 32:52. Deignan took a narrow second place after ahead of Longo Borghini, finishing 1:52 down on the winner and only one second ahead of the Italian.

Van Vleuten: Bergen is 'finally a Worlds course that suits me'

Van Vleuten won the first stage – and official La Course event according to UCI rankings – up the Izoard on Thursday, which set her up to take off as first in this pursuit format stage. The top 19 women from the first stage took off in order of their finish on Izoard, with Van Vleuten thus starting 43 seconds before Deignan.

The format, different from the usual individual time trial, allowed riders to wait for teammates or form alliances. Deignan waited for her teammate Megan Guarnier and, in turn, formed an alliance with Longo Borghini. The wait only increased Van Vleuten’s lead, giving her a comfortable gap on the Marseille roads.

Guarnier was dropped on the day’s climb as Longo Borghini pushed on, taking Deignan with her. They brought Van Vleuten back a few seconds but the Dutchwoman never showed signs of weakness and in the end built her 43 seconds lead into nearly two minutes.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Orica Scott Women	0:32:52
2	Elizabeth Deignan (GBr) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam	0:01:52
3	Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Wiggle High5
4	Megan Guarnier (USA) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam	0:03:00
5	Amanda Spratt (Aus) Orica Scott Women	0:03:26
6	Shara Gillow (Aus) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope	0:03:48
7	Lauren Stephens (USA) Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank	0:03:53
8	Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Pol) WM3 Pro Cycling	0:04:35
9	Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (RSA) Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling Team
10	Ana Christina Sanabria Sanchez (Col) Servetto Giusta	0:04:46
11	Hanna Nilson (Swe) BTC City Ljubljana
12	Sabrina Stultiens (Ned) Team Sunweb Women	0:05:09
13	Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Fra) Canyon SRAM Racing
14	Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling Team
15	Eri Yonamine (Jpn) FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope	0:05:11
16	Janneke Ensing (Ned) Alé Cipollini	0:05:13
17	Leah Kirchmann (Can) Team Sunweb Women	0:05:44
18	Karol-Ann Canuel (Can) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
19	Ursa Pintar (Slo) BTC City Ljubljana