Dillier outsprints Tvetcov to win in Red Deer

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BMC stagiaire Silvan Dillier won a two-up sprint over Jelly Belly's Serghei Tvetcov to take stage 2 at the Tour of Alberta Thursday. The two riders broke away 94km into the 175km stage from Devon to Red Deer and time trialed to a five-minute gap before race leader Peter Sagan's Cannondale team started to chase in earnest.

The 23-year-old Swiss stage winner said he was surprised to get the win at the UCI 2.1 stage race because he came to Canada to help his team leaders.

"I am a little surprised about this win because as a stagiaire you don't go to a race and say, 'I'm probably going to win this,'" Dillier said. "You say I'm here to help my leaders from the team to get them in a good place so they can win. So I'm a little bit surprised now."

Despite getting help from some other sprinters' teams in the finale, the peloton left it too late, and the duo finished just ahead of the bunch. Sagan took the bunch sprint for third and another four-second time bonus.

"I was hoping [for help from the other teams] because I said today if the other teams don't come on the front to help us, then we also won't pull," Sagan said. "I could lose my yellow jersey, but it doesn't matter because it is impossible working when I have opposition from everybody. That was the tactic, and I think also for tomorrow will be the same."

Having started the day just 1:13 down on Sagan's overall lead, Dillier was the virtual leader on the road for much of his time off the front. But he was focused on the stage win and not the yellow jersey.

"Sometimes I thought about getting the lead, but I'm not really sure how my general classification was," he said. "I wasn't sure if I would get the leader's jersey or [Tvetcov], so I just went for a stage win."

Sagan increased his overall lead over Rohan Dennis (Garmin Sharp) to 26 seconds and Tobias Ludvigsson (Argos-Shimano) to 28 seconds. He also holds the jerseys for best young rider and sprint points. Tvetcov earned the blue top for most aggressive on the day. Garmin Sharp's Ryder Hesjedal is in the best Canadian, jersey, and Belkin's Tom Jelte Slagter kept the polka dot climber's jersey.

How it happened

Stage 2 featured two sprints and one KOM. Riders rolled through the sprawling farmland around Leduc, Millet, Wetaskiwin, Hobbema and Ponoka before turning west toward Red Deer. Outside of Red Deer riders tackled a short, punchy climb before entering the 4km circuits, which included a 30 meter climb and a corresponding descent to the finish.

An early break containing a number of general classification riders tried to sneak off the front. In the group were Dennis and Ludvigsson. Sagan's Cannondale team quickly pounced on the dangerous move to bring the escapees back into the fold.

Without a lasting break having formed, the pace shot up to 52km/h over the first hour of racing. The bunch steamed single file into the first intermediate sprint of the day in Wetaskiwin, where Dennis took the maximum time bonus of three seconds ahead of William Clarke (Argos) and Luke Keough (UnitedHealthcare).

The attacking picked up again before Tvetcov and Dillier, winner of the Tour de Normandie earlier in the year, escaped the group after the second sprint in Ponoka more than 94km into the race. With just two riders off the front, Cannondale dialed back the pace and allowed the escapees an ultimate gap of 5:30 with just 50km remaining.

Cannondale started lifting the pace again, and the gap started coming down steadily, but the duo still had four minutes with 30km remaining. Argos-Shimano added a handful of riders to the chase, hoping to bring back the break and set up a sprint for Luka Mezgec, who was second to Sagan twice at the USA Pro Challenge.

Attacks off the front of the field in the closing kilometers into Red Deer left Sagan isolated and chasing down the moves himself, but the attacking helped pick up the pace for the chase, dropping the gap to just two minutes with less than 20km remaining. Ten kilometers later as the escapees started the circuit, the gap was still holding at 1:45.

UnitedHealthcare picked up the chase on the circuits as the field started to split up. Sagan and his teammate, Damiano Caruso, made the front group and got a chance to sit in the field as UHC's blue train took over.

The gap dropped below one minute on the final lap, and Sagan's overall lead looked secure although it was clear he wasn't going to run the table with six wins in six days. Tevtcov took the front in the final kilometers, but Dillier jumped with 100 meters to go to grab the win.

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