Tour of the Alps: Michael Storer goes solo to win stage 2 and take race lead

Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) captured the victory on stage 2 of the Tour of the Alps, soloing home into Mezzolombardo after attacking on the day's final climb, 11km from the finish line.

The Australian's win is his second of the season following a triumph from the breakaway on the penultimate stage of Paris-Nice last month.

The win also vaults him into the race lead as he beat a chase group including stage 1 winner Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) to line by 41 seconds.

Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) led the chase group home for second place, while Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL), preparing for his final Grand Tour at the Giro d'Italia, finished third.

Storer had left behind Seixas, Felix Gall, and Ciccone on the 7% slopes of the Telves di Sopra climb after the quartet made an elite selection provoked by Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale pair on the way up.

He now leads Seixas by 41 seconds in the general classification heading into another challenging climber's day to Innichen. Ciccone lies in third overall, level on time with the young Frenchman.

"I felt really good today and also the strongest rider on the last climb," Storer said after his win.

"I didn't look back that much after my attack. I thought to myself 'Just put your head down and go!'

"It would be great if I could finally take the overall victory, having already finished second.

"However, we still have a big challenge ahead of us as a team. There are still three very tough stages to come and there are many good riders who still have a shot at the leader's jersey."

How it unfolded

Stage 2 of the Tour of the Alps took the peloton on a 178km mountainous route north from Mezzolombardo to Sterzing, with 4,337 metres of climbing lay along the stage, including the early first-category test of Monte San Pietro. A circuit in the final 40km would see the riders tackle two ascents of the third-category Telves di Sopra (4.2km at 7.1%).

An early attack by Lukas Meiler (Vorarlberg) and Koen Bouwman (Jayco-AlUla) set up the break of the day, with Fran Miholjevic (Bahrain Victorious) joining the pair soon after to make it three out front.

The four would gain an advantage of 4:30 over the peloton by the halfway mark of the stage, with Bouwman grabbing 10 mountain classification points atop Monte San Pietro along the way.

Shortly afterwards, the trio turned into two as Meiler dropped back from the move and to the peloton.

On the road to the closing circuit, GC contender Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) pulled out of the race suffering from stomach problems, while his teammate Miholjevic winning the second sprint of the day at Fortezza was the break's final action out front. A crash in a tunnel also scared the peloton, with Salvatore Puccio (Ineos Grenadiers) forced to abandon the race due to his injuries. 

The early attack was caught with 49km to go after over 120km out front, leaving the peloton to contest the stage victory on the circuit and the day's final two climbs.

Picnic-PostNL, Ineos Grenadiers, and Decathlon-AG2R were among the teams leading the charge across the finish line for the first time and into the first ascent of Telves di Sopra.

Lidl-Trek riders Juan Pedro López and Giulio Ciccone led the way over the top with the peloton having slimmed down to a group of around 20 favourites on the way up.

They were joined in the move by riders including Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL) and Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla).

The peloton came back together on the flat valley roads after the descent, while Geoffrey Bouchard (Decathlon AG2R) briefly jumped clear at 20km to go.

Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) led the group into the second ascent before Decathlon AG2R took over to launch Gall and Paul Seixas. The pair were joined out front in the final kilometre of the climb by Ciccone and Michael Storer (Tudor). 

The Australian then attacked alone, with a show of strength and impressive form. He went solo at the front 500 metres from the top of the Telves di Sopra.

Heading down the descent and into the closing 10km, Storer held his advantage over the chasers and even extended it, while Hindley, Bardet, and Jefferson Cepeda (EF Education-EasyPost) caught the three chasers to make it six behind the sole leader.

Several attacks came from the chase group on the flat run back to the finish, with a cohesive chase unable to organise itself.

That helped Storer to increase his lead to over 30 seconds heading into the final kilometres. Even the addition of  Davide Piganzoli (Polti-VisitMalta), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), and Max Poole (Picnic-PostNL) didn't help the chase, who were left to battle over the podium places as Storer soloed home.

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