Tour of the Alps stage 2 – Live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the second stage of the Tour of the Alps.

Today's stage sees the peloton take on 121.5 kilometres of racing and three major climbs, including the finish.

Today's stage starts in Innsbruck, where Ineos rider Gianni Moscon took the win aftr a late attack. He's in the race lead today as a result.

Read our stage report here.

The peloton are rolling out to start the neutralised section in Innsbruck now.

All 143 riders take the start again today.

Today's stage has 2,500 metres of altitude gain – largely concentrated in the second half of the day. It's going to be a tough one.

After some attacking to kick off the race, a number of riders have broken away.

Reuben Thompson (Groupama-FDJ), Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Qhubeka Assos), Mathias Vacek (Gazprom-RusVelo), Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa), Morten Hulgaard (Uno-X) and Felix Engelhardt (Tirol KTM) are the men in question.

108km to go

The group are 1:50 up the road already. The peloton are happy to let this break go.

Engelhardt is in the red jersey today after being in the break yesterday as well. He is the intermediate sprints leader, while fellow stage 1 breakmate Alessandro De Marchi is in the blue best climber's jersey.

100km to go

The riders have already passed the 100km to go mark on this short stage. The break are 2:45 up the road.

A look at the breakaway.

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Ineos Grenadiers are currently setting the pace in the peloton. That's no surprise given they hold the race lead and several GC contenders in the form of Pavel Sivakov, Iván Sosa and Dani Martínez.

85km to go

The breakaway's lead is 2:30 as the reach the intermediate sprint at Silz.

It won't be long before the riders start heading uphill for the first (uncategorised) climb of the day.

The riders have covered 47 kilometres in the first hour. A very quick start to the day.

68km to go

No real change in the race situation at the moment. The break are still around 2:30 up the road as they reach the unclassified climb ahead of our first real climb of the day.

The gap goes up to 3:05 and Bais is now the virtual leader on the road. It'll be a different story at the end of the day, though – this break won't make it all the way to the finish out front.

Ineos Grenadiers continue to work as the riders head down the descent towards our first categorised climb.

Janse van Rensburg is a minute behind the breakaway as they head towards the second-category Piller Sattel climb, having been dropped.

Janse van Rensburg is caught by the peloton.

50km to go

The five men of the breakaway are now 2:15 up on the Ineos-led peloton as they battle up the climb.

The break are a couple of kilometres away from the top of the climb and above the snow line.

Thompson leads the way as the break nears the top.

He jumps away 500 metres from the top and nobody can answer him. He takes the points at the top of the climb and starts the descent alone.

Bais has joined him now.

44km to go

The peloton pass the top 2:30 down.

20 seconds between the two breakaway groups as they continue down the descent.

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30 seconds now as they hit the flat road. The peloton lies 2:20 back.

The lead duo will hit the climb again, this time from the harder side, soon. It's a first-category climb, 7.5 kilometres at a 9 per cent gradient.

30km to go

The breakaway duo hit the bottom of the climb. 30 seconds over the chasers and two minutes over the peloton.

Arkea-Samsic take it up on the front of the peloton for Nairo Quintana.

Thompson and Bais continue to push on up front.

28km to go

Much of the break has been brought back now, but the two leaders keep going.

27km to go

Arkea-Samsic continue to make the pace. They're almost with the leaders now.

And now it's over for the breakaway, five kilometres from the top.

Just Anacona left in front of Quintana here... Ineos right behind.

EF, FDJ, Trek, BikeExchange, DSM are all represented a little further back in the peloton.

Quintana goes!

He has three Ineos men right on his wheel.

Sivakov goes next. Quintana follows.

Hugh Carthy is with them, too.

Simon Yates and Uno-X rider Torstein Træn are there, too, along with Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec's Jefferson Cepeda.

It looks like Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech) is next on the road.

Now Dani Martínez attacks.

3.5 kilometres to the top of the climb. Martínez is away.

Simon Yates chases.

An upping of the pace from Yates has seen him, Sivakov, Carthy and Quintana go clear.

The likes of Pinot and Pozzovivo have been nowhere today.

Pozzovivo is in the Moscon group, so not particularly close to the four leaders.

Yates is pulling the group. 2.5 kilometres to the top of the climb.

15 seconds back to the peloton.

Yates ups the pace and everybody else is struggling. Quintana and Carthy have cracked!

Sivakov looked in trouble but he was just held up by Carthy and Quintana struggling.

24km to go

Two versus two up front. 17 seconds back to the rest.

Yates tries another acceleration. Sivakov hangs on.

Carthy and Quintana aren't coming back.

Yates ups the pace again and Sivakov can't respond! No attack, just a gradual acceleration.

Sivakov is done.

Yates has blown him away there, wow.

Carthy and Quintana make it across to Sivakov.

Yates crosses the top of the climb. He's well ahead.

The official timing says the gap is 12 seconds but it was around 30-32 seconds.

20km to go

A descent to come and then another, far less hard, climb to the finish.

It should be Yates' to lose here given the show of strength he put on up the climb. Sivakov went backwards like he'd put the brakes on.

Yates takes on the descent after a short section of false flat.

The gap is still around 30 seconds.

Sivakov leading the way in the chase.

Yates is pushing it all the way down, right on the margins around the bends and through a small town on the mountainside.

12km to go

The gap is now reportedly  40 seconds. 

And now the chasers have the peloton breathing down their necks.

Dan Martin (ISN) leads a small group to the chasers.

Romain Bardet (DSM) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain) made it across. 

Yates hits the final 10km. 40 seconds.

Alejandro Osorio (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Dani Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers) attack the chase group.

8km to go

Cepeda, Jai Hindley (DSM) and Ruben Guerreiro (EF) are with that duo.

More riders come across as they head through a tunnel, and more riders try to attack, led by Cepeda.

44 seconds for Yates up front.

It's very fluid in the chase. Around 15 riders in total with small groups trying various moves.

Vlasov, Hindley, Martin, Cepeda and Sivakov are in a move now.

5km to go

The gap to Yates is still 43 seconds.

The five chasers aren't making much headway at the moment.

Sivakov pushes on now. Cepeda tries to chase and the others follow further back.

Hindley is out the back.

4km to go

It's still 42 seconds for Yates, despite Sivakov's acceleration.

Sivakov has 10 seconds on the chasers.

3km to go

Yates still leads by 40 seconds. By far the best rider of the day.

Now the chase group behind Sivakov are a minute down.

1km to go

Final kilometre for Yates now. 40 seconds up on Sivakov and a minute up on the other chasers.

He's heading into the final metres now.

Simon Yates (BikeExchange) wins stage 2 of the Tour of the Alps and takes over the race lead!

Sivakov crosses the line 41 seconds down.

Martin leads Vlasov over the line for third, 59 seconds down.

Cepeda finishes with them, while Hindley and Carthy finish 1:17 down.

Another six men finish at 1:42, including Bardet, Bilbao, Quintana and Sosa.

More groups trail in later on, a long way down on Yates.

Yates celebrates his win.

Here's what he had to say after the finish.

"I tried really hard. it was a very tough climb. Those guys were not easy to get rid of. I tried several times and that really took it out of me from the valley road to the finish.

"I enjoy these stages. We race from the start, rather than messing around for 150km and then racing only in the final. Good day for us and my first win of the year, so I'm very happy.

"So far, so good. There are still some very hard stages to come, so we'll see what we can do in the next few days and then go from there."

Our brief report on the stage is up now. Read it here.

We'll have more news and reaction from the race as it comes this afternoon.