Riblon wins alone at the Passo Pordoi

Christophe Riblon (Ag2r-La Mondiale) followed up on his Tour de France stage victory at Alpe d'Huez by winning stage two at the Tour of Poland to the Passo Pordoi, with an aggressive ride in the Italian Dolomites.

Riblon had chased down Tejay van Garderen (BMC) to win atop Alpe d'Huez and used his climbing ability and determination to win again at the Tour of Poland despite the fatigue of having only completed the Tour de France a week ago.

He was part of the early break of the day and then attacked alone eight kilometres from the summit finish, giving it 100 percent all the way to the line. Thomas Rohregger (RadioShack-Leopard) was also in the break and hung on to finish second, 1:02 behind, with another breakaway rider, Georg Preidler (Argos-Shimano), a deserved third at 1:18.

Riblon looked set to take the race leader's yellow jersey but a late surge by a group of overall contenders formed in the final kilometres reduced his lead and allowed Poland's Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) to take the yellow jersey in his national tour. He leads Sergio Henao (Team Sky) by four seconds, with Riblon third overall at six seconds.

Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) finished 58th on the stage in a small chase group, 15:40 down on Riblon. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) finished even further back, in 60th place at 23:44.

A hard day in the Dolomites

The 206km stage included the Passo di Pampeago and the Passo Costalunga before the climb up to the finish in the shadows of the Dolomites at the Passo Pordoi. It meant for six hours of racing and an early start.

However the stage profile did not scare off attacks, with Riblon being part of a 16-rider move that formed on the descent from the Val di Sole.

Nibali was also in the early move, perhaps stung by criticism after his poor performance on stage one. However he and most of the riders didn't last long up front and the break was reduced to just six riders on the slopes of the Pampeago.

With Riblon, Rohregger and Preidler were former cyclo-cross world champion Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Maciej Paterski (Cannondale) and Tomasz Marczynski (Vacansoleil-DCM). Lampre-Merida tried to lead the chase but race leader Diego Ulissi was not at his best, suffering with cramp on the Costalunga climb and eventually finishing 27 minutes behind Riblon.

The Tour of Poland enjoys an early rest day on Monday for the long transfer from the Italian Dolomites to Krakow. The racing resumes on Tuesday with the 226km third stage from Krakow to Rzeszów. The race ends next Saturday with a 37km individual time trial in Krakow. 

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