Tour de Suisse 2019: Stage 2
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse.
Race hub
Stage 1: Dennis wins opening time trial
Today's stage is another around the town of Langnau im Emmental in Bern. This time it's a road stage featuring three circuits and six second-category climbs (two climbs repeated three times).
It could be a day for a break or for classics specialists, especially those with a sprint like Greg Van Avermaet, Michael Matthews or Peter Sagan.
The two climbs aren't too tough, meaning that which fastmen make it to the finish depends on how hard they're raced.
Yesterday's opening stage was a 9.5km time trial around the same town. Rohan Dennis took the win, his first for Bahrain-Merida and first since taking the rainbow jersey last season. He's in the race lead but could lose it today with Matthews and Sagan lurking a few seconds down.
Here's a reminder of the GC top ten as the riders get stage 2 underway.
1 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:10:50
2 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:00
3 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:02
4 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:00:02
5 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:03
6 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 0:00:05
7 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:08
8 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 0:00:09
9 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:09
10 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Education First 0:00:11
Fabian Cancellara kicked off today's stage, firing a starter pistol into the air as the riders set off. Here's a video of the start.
The riders are approaching the first climb of the day, Schallenberg. It's 8km long at an average of 5.1%, though the 4km of false flat in the middle does bring that figure down.
Four riders have a small advantage right now. They are Guillaume van Keirsbulck (CCC Team), Gavin Mannion (UHC Cycling Rally), Cladio Imhof (Switzerland) and Fabien Greiller (Total Direct Energie).
Imhof is the best-placed rider on GC in the break. He's 19 seconds down on Dennis, so is already in the virtual race lead. Mannion and van Keirsbulck lie within a minute, while Grellier is 1:16 down.
128km remaining from 159km
The break has flown down the descent and they're now on the second climb, Chuderhüsi. It's 3km long at an average of 9.3% – shorter but harder.
A bit delayed, but the results of the second climb saw Imhof take 6 points, Mannion take 4 and Grellier take 3.
Imhof and Grellier lead the mountain classification with 9 points, while Mannion is on 8. There are four climbs left to race today and a maximum of 24 points up for grabs.
75km remaining from 159km
Sagan leads the peloton over the second intermediate sprint of the day, beating Matthews to take 2 and 1 bonus seconds respectively.
Imhof led over the second ascent of Schallenberg and is now tackling the second ascent of Chuderhüsi.
Over at the Dauphiné, Adam Yates has surprisingly abandoned. He was running in second place and there are still 50km to race on the final stage, so a bit of a shock. Follow live here.
70km remaining from 159km
A few riders are dropping from the back of the peloton, who are still on the climb. Shouldn't be a problem with 70km to race though. Imhof's lead is down to 1:45 now.
He's holding the gap pretty well here. Imhof should have a chance to take points over the final climbs too.
54km remaining from 159km
Imhof passes through the line and takes the bell for the last lap. There's still over 50km to go though.
There's little change in the situation at the moment. The gap fluctuates between 1:40 and 2:00. It's just a matter of when the peloton want to step up the pace and make the catch at this point.
42km remaining from 159km
Imhof has a mechanical and has to change his bike without any drama. The gap goes down to 1:20 as a result.
His advantage has suddenly dropped to 35 seconds. I was going to say he looks good to last up the next climb at least, but now it looks a big ask.
36km remaining from 159km
Numerous riders drop off the back of the peloton under the pace set by Astana, who have their whole team on the front now.
28km remaining from 159km
Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Roland Thalmann (Switzerland) attack from the peloton and catch Fraile.
21km remaining from 159km
Lotto Soudal lead the peloton onto the final climb, the third ascent of Chuderhüsi. Meanwhile, Fraile is pushing it up front and Asgreen struggles to keep up.
Fraile ups the pace and cracks his companions. They're not going to bring him back on these steep slopes.
Merhawi Kudus (Astana) attacks the descent and he has a few riders on his wheel. They're quickly caught by the peloton though.
Elsewhere, Jakob Fuglsang has sealed his Dauphiné victory. Stay tuned for the report and results here.
We're not sure which other sprinters are chasing on, if any. Matthews is definitely in the chase group though.
13km remaining from 159km
It's a twisting, technical descent, but the roads are in good shape and it's a fast one.
CCC have a man on the front of the peloton, and Sunweb have a man up there too. Astana have a few riders trying to disrupt though.
7km remaining from 159km
The gap is rising, up to 26 seconds for Sanchez now. Not sure how accurate that time gap is...
Still only one rider apiece for Sunweb and CCC at the head of the peloton. Bora don't have anyone up there.
The Slovakian flags of the Peter Sagan fanclub indicate that Sanchez is turning into a headwind now. Advantage peloton?
The time gap shows 40 seconds but Sanchez's advantage isn't that large.
1km remaining from 159km
Sunweb, CCC and QuickStep lead the peloton, but they're not making any inroads into the gap.
Sagan led Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) and Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) over the line for the minor placings.
Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) is the new race leader, despite only finishing fourth. He took bonus seconds earlier on, and is level on time with Sagan.
Stage 2 result
1 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 4:01:21
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:06
3 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott
4 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC Team
6 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
7 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team
8 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
9 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
10 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Ineos
General Classification after stage 2
1 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 4:12:16
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:01
4 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
5 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 0:00:06
6 Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:10
7 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:17
8 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:18
9 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Sky 0:00:19
10 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
Asgreen is also the best young rider, while Rohan Dennis retains in the points jersey. Imhof takes the mountains jersey for his efforts in the break today.
Tomorrow's stage is a nailed-on sprint stage, with just two third-category climbs on the road from Flamatt to Murten. Look out for Sagan and Matthews to battle for the win – and the race lead.
That's all from our live coverage of stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse. Join us again tomorrow for live coverage of stage 3.
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