Bakelants wins Stage 2 at the Tour de France

Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Leopard) attacked a late-race breakaway to win stage 2 at the Tour de France in Ajaccio on the island of Corsica. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) won the bunch sprint for second place ahead of Michal Kwiatkowski (OmegaPharma-QuickStep) in third.

Bakelants won the stage with one second to spare and moved into the yellow jersey heading into stage 3 held from Ajaccio to Calvi.

Veilleux drives the all-day breakaway

Stage 2 took the riders on a 156-km race from Bastia to Ajaccio. It was a short but difficult stage with one intermediate sprint and four climbs on the course.

Canada’s David Veilleux (Team Europcar) made the decisive move of the day along with yesterday’s breakaway contender Lars Boom (Belkin), Blel Kadri (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel Euskadi). They gained about 2:30 minutes over the peloton.

Boom picked up full points at the intermediate sprint located in Castello-Di-Rostino, 33 kms into the stage. He was followed by Veilleux, Dadri and Perez. As expected, Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol), Sagan and Danny van Poppel (Vacansoleil-DCM) picked up the remaining points from the peloton.

Boom also picked up full points on the first king of the mountain ascent on the Col de Bellagranajo 70 kms into the race.

Veilleux drove the pace at the bottom of the second climb on the Col de la Serra, at 85 kms, followed by Kadri, while Boom and Perez fell off pace.

Back in the field, Veilleux’s teammate Thomas Voeckler attacked out of the peloton to try and bridge across to the breakaway. The race leader and stage 1 winner, Marcel Kittell (Argos-Shimano) lost contact with the main field and a significant amount of time in the overall classification.

Kadri picked up the points on the climb as Veilleux fell off pace. Veilleux and Voeckler were picked up by the FDJ team leading the main field over the top of the second climb.

Kadri remained solo on the descent with 40 seconds over the field but had a mechanical over the third climb Col de Vizzanova, at 96 kms. By the time he got back on his bike the field was right behind him. He continued on solo just a few seconds ahead of the field. Former Alpe d’Huez stage winner Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar) jumped out of the field and passed Kadri to pick up full points on the climb.

Rolland was picked up by the main field before the fourth climb on the Cote du Salario, 144 kms into the race. BMC and Sky led the field into the climb.

Cyril Gautier (Team Europcar) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM) made attacks over the climb. They were both caught on the run-in toward Ajaccio.

Sylvain Chavanel (OmegaPharma-QuickStep) was the next to attack and started a small group with 5 kms to go. His breakaway mates were Bakelants, Flecha, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Gorka Izaguirre (Euskaltel Euskadi) and Manuele Mori (Lampre-Merida).

Bakelants attacked the group with 1 km to go and held off the main field to take his first professional stage win and the overall race lead.

Stage results

1. Jan Bakelants (RadioShack Leopard)
2. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) +0:00:01
3. Michal Kwiatkowski (OmegaPharma-QuickStep)
4. Davide Cimolai (Lampre-Merida)
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Pro Cycling)

29. Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp)
116. David Veilleux (Europcar) +0:09:06
156. Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge) +0:17:35

Overall classification

1. Jan Bakelants (RadioShack Leopard)
2. David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) + 0:00:01
3. Julien Simon (Sojasun)
4. Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge)
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Pro Cycling)

29. Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp)

116. David Veilleux (Europcar) +0:09:96

156. Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge) +0:17:35