Matt Goss of Orica-GreenEdge has taken the Australian's team second WorldTour victory of the afternoon, winning a tough sprint in Indicatore that followed a scrappy finale in which the peloton became very strung out with a number of fancied riders missing the chance to compete for the win. Manuel Belleti of AG2R-La Mondiale was second, with MTN-Qhubeka's Gerald Ciolek third. Mark Cavendish finished fifth and keeps the race lead after picking up bonus seconds at an internediate sprint, but afterwards was critical of his leadout.
The Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider, winner of the stage of last year's race that finished here, was one of a number of fancied riders who saw their plans to fully contest the sprint scuppered in a disorganised finale on roads soaked from a heavy downpour. Cavendish recovered well to claim fifth place, but any chance of challenging for the win ended as he had to hit the brakes inside the closing 100 metres as he sought a way through on the right.
Afterwards, Cavendish, who typically expresses the feeling he has let his team mates down when things haven't worked out in a sprint finish, was uncharacteristically hard on them. "I'm quite disappointed with my leadout today, it's not often I say that, but we'll have to have words," he said.
Heavy rain made for a long day in the saddle for the 232 kilometre stage from San Vicenzo, and while today may not have resulted in the much anticipated first battle of the season between Cavendish and Lotto-Belisol's Andre Greipel, there's another expected opportunity for them to go head to head on tomorrow's Stage 3 in Narni Scalo.
Tirreno Adriatico Stage 2 result
1 GOSS Matthew ORICA GREENEDGE 5.48'41
2 BELLETTI Manuel AG2R LA MONDIALE All at same time
3 CIOLEK Gerald MTN-QHUBEKA
4 FERRARI Roberto LAMPRE-MERIDA
5 CAVENDISH Mark OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK-STEP
6 DEMARE Arnaud FDJ
7 GREIPEL André LOTTO BELISOL
8 SBARAGLI Kristian MTN-QHUBEKA
9 SAGAN Peter CANNONDALE PRO CYCLING
10 APPOLLONIO Davide AG2R LA MONDIALE
11 NIZZOLO Giacomo RADIOSHACK LEOPARD
12 VAN POPPEL Boy VACANSOLEIL-DCM
13 FARRAR Tyler GARMIN SHARP
14 DEGENKOLB John TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO
15 IMPEY Daryl ORICA GREENEDGE
16 VENTOSO Francisco MOVISTAR TEAM
17 PHINNEY Taylor BMC RACING TEAM
18 MONTAGUTI Matteo AG2R LA MONDIALE
19 HENDERSON Gregory LOTTO BELISOL
20 CHICCHI Francesco VINI FANTINI-SELLE ITALIA
Overall standings after Stage 2
1 CAVENDISH Mark OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK-STEP 6.08'02
2 KWIATKOWSKI Michal OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK-STEP 0'02
3 TERPSTRA Niki OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK-STEP 0'03
4 MARTIN Tony OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK-STEP 0'03
5 STYBAR Zdenek OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK-STEP 0'03
6 VISCONTI Giovanni MOVISTAR TEAM 0'14
7 DOWSETT Alex MOVISTAR TEAM 0'14
8 COBO ACEBO Juan Jose MOVISTAR TEAM 0'14
9 INTXAUSTI Benat MOVISTAR TEAM 0'14
10 CAPECCHI Eros MOVISTAR TEAM 0'14
I'm confident you won't regret it! Although I'm passing judgement in some ignorance (being rather a social media hermit barring this site)....
Let's not forget Shimano's compressed air shifting system...
For real?
Nothing suitabel innthe range at my small local Halfords. Next stop JE James in Chesterfield, or a larger Halfords.
Extra shit points for doing it when there was zero traffic coming on the other side of the road.
Yep. I'd recommend.
Actually, 700C and 29ers are the same bead size. We've had mnt bikers convert to 28 - 30 mm tires to ride distance on roads. It is quite the look!
I always wondered why they had PSI ops units* ... clearly it's to exert pressure on the popular imagination....
I don't actually agree with de Vlaeminck's comments, let's wait until the end of a career to see where people are, Pogacar isn't that far off in...
“Unfortunately budgetary constraints mean that the previously envisaged cycle lanes cannot be included within this initial phase of this Victoria...