Tirreno-Adriatico: Thomas wins stage 2 in Pomarance

Geraint Thomas made up for Team Sky's disastrous team time trial, going on a solo attack to win stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico in Pomarance. Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) fell short of catching Thomas, and finished just ahead of the sprinting bunch, led to the line by Peter Sagan (Bora Hansgrohe).

Greg Van Avermaet took over the race lead from his BMC teammate Damiano Caruso, with Rohan Dennis and Tejay van Garderen filling out the top three overall.

Thomas made his move with less than five kilometres to go, taking Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) and Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), with race leader Caruso racing across. Just as it looked like the strong group was going to fail because of an inability to work together, Thomas made his move while Castroviejo glanced over his shoulder at Jungels.

The Team Sky rider built a very quick lead and there was no looking back as the remaining trio couldn’t make a concerted effort to close him down. They were eventually mopped up but, with the peloton and a lone Dumoulin looming in the background, Thomas held on to take the victory.

"My attack wasn't planned really," Thomas said. "We just wanted to be well positioned in the steep part of the climb. We rode really hard and when Bob [Jungels] attacked, I was feeling OK and Kwiato [Michal Kwiatkowski] said on the radio 'have a go!' That's what I did. I didn't think it was going to stick until 150 metres to go but I'm pleased to get that win."

Thomas has been lacking in race days, but spent time in South Africa with teammate Chris Froome at altitude, and was unsure of his form. He has his answer now.

"We've worked really hard since November," he said. "I haven't raced since the Tour Down Under so I wasn't sure how I'd cope with the rhythm of the race after the training camp in South Africa. Fighting for positions when the bunch moved, I was obviously feeling OK."

Van Avermaet was expecting a bunch sprint, and said, "I was a little bit surprised when Geraint Thomas attacked but we had Damiano [Caruso] with him at the beginning with two more guys. Thomas went alone and we were in a bad situation. I'm disappointed because it was a very good stage for me to win. It's nice to be in the leader's jersey but this is due to the strong performance of the team in yesterday's team time trial. The team is doing well – to lead a big race is always a good thing."

How it happened

With legs still stinging from the stage 1 team time trial, the peloton faced an arduous 229km journey from Camaiore to Pomarance, and were in no mood to be on the back foot when it came to reeling in the breakaway for the expected bunch sprint.

That's why the day's early move with Hugo Houle (AG2R La Mondiale), Davide Ballerini and Raffaello Bonusi (Androni – Sidermec), Mirco Maestri (Bardiani – CSF), Alan Marangoni (Nippo – Vini Fantini), and Charles Planet (Team Novo Nordisk) was kept on a short leash. They managed to get around four minutes on the bunch, but the climb to Volterra with 54km to go hurt their lead.

With 41km to go their advantage had been cut in half, but a crash in the peloton took down Caleb Ewan (Orica Scott) and Jürgen Van Den Broeck (LottoNL-Jumbo), the latter would be forced to abandon. With 27km to go they were in sight of the peloton, and the catch was swift and painless, with BMC heading up the peloton, and Trek-Segafredo, Bora-hansgrohe and Orica-Scott amassing at the front.

An attack with just over 25km to go from Nippo-Vini Fantini's Iuri Filosi drew out Gianni Moscon, who led a Team Sky attack on the final ascent of the day, in a desperate attempt to claw back some of the time they lost due to wheel failures in the team time trial. But BMC was having none of it, with Daniel Oss regaining control.

Meanwhile, Ewan climbed off, the pain from his crash too much, and he joined teammate Roger Kluge, who had abandoned earlier, in the team car.

Moscon tried again, this time with Nippo's Hideto Nakane carving out 10 seconds or so before FDJ wiped out their move. The composition of teams at the front shifted over the sinuous descent from the final KOM, with Bahrain-Merida, Movistar and FDJ leading the way.

With 15km to go, Michal Kwiatkowski strung out the peloton with a furious attack on the descent, slowed only by the TV motorbike that couldn't get away quickly enough. The pressure split off a group briefly, but it all came back together on the valley floor.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) parked himself on the wheel of Gaviria, remaining near the front with the steep 16 per cent ramp inside 6km to go an expected attack point. With 8km to go Quick-Step hit the front and upped the pace as the road tilted up, with Zdenek Stybar setting such a pace that Peter Sagan threw in the towel.

Bob Jungels and Geraint Thomas attacked on the steep climb with 5.4km to go, pulling Tim Wellens and race leader Damiano Caruso and Tejay van Garderen away with them. An attentive Quintana jumped on and neutralised the assault.

Thomas counter-attacked with Jungels and Jonathan Castroviejo, and Caruso leapt across to form a promising breakaway. But as the others looked back Thomas forged ahead, leaving his erstwhile companions behind.

Thomas built up a lead of almost 25 seconds on the peloton as he hit 2km to go, as Caruso's chasing group was swept up by the Movistar-led bunch. With 1km to go, a suffering Thomas still held 18 seconds as Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) set off in pursuit, but fell short of catching the Team Sky man, who celebrated his win nine seconds ahead of the bunch.

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