Route d'Occitanie: Jason Tesson claims stage 2 in bunch sprint

Jason Tesson (TotalEnergies) won stage 2 of La Route d’Occitanie after beating Corbin Strong (Israel Premier Tech) and Elia Viviani (Ineos) in a bunch sprint in Graulhet.

Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) finished 13th on the stage to retain the overall lead, four seconds ahead of Strong.

The stage was animated by Carlos Garcia Pierna (Equipo Kern Pharma) who pressed clear alone after being part of the day’s early break, but he was recaptured with a shade under 50km to go.

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With an eye to the overall standings, Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën) and Michael Woods (Israel Premier Tech) successfully contested the intermediate sprints in the finale, but the day was always likely to end in a mass finish.

Filippo Ganna delivered a striking cameo in the final kilometre on behalf of his Ineos teammate Viviani, but the spoils would fall to Tesson, who showed a fine turn of speed in the finishing straight.

It was the sixth win of the Frenchman’s career and his third of the 2023 season after his brace of victories at the Tropicale Amissa Bongo in January.

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