Étoile de Bessèges 2019 – Stage 2 [FULL STAGE](french)

February 08, 2019

Étoile de Bessèges 2019 – Stage 2 – Saint Geniès de Malgoirès – La Calmette : 158 km

The first Étoile de Bessèges took place in 1971 and for the first three years was only a one-day race. But in 1974 it became a five-day stage race, and as of 2005 became part of the UCI European Tour. It remains one of the opening European stage races of the calendar year, made up of flat stages and an individual time trial and this year it’s been reduced from five to four , with a time trial still in place as the final stage.

Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) enjoyed double victories in Etoile de Besseges on Friday, taking the stage win from a bunch sprint and moving into the overall race lead over stage 1 winner Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept-B&B Hotels).

Laporte’s victory was a repeat of last season, where he won the second stage and also claimed the race lead, and makes up for the team’s performance in the sprint on stage 1.

“The team wanted to catch up because everyone had missed out on the first stage,” Laporte said. We positioned ourselves earlier in the final. We had come to Bessèges to win a stage, now it’s done. Last year I finished in second place in the overall ranking. We’ll see day by day.”

Sunny skies and spring-like temperatures greeted riders for the second stage of Etoile de Bessèges, but the opening kilometres of the 158km stage from St Genies de Malgoires to La Calmette were anything but tranquil. With the bunch speeding along at 60kph, it was impossible for any attack to stick until finally, after 10km, Pierre-Luc Perichon (Cofidis) managed to slip away.

Perichon was quickly joined by Jérôme Cousin (Direct Energie), Amaury Capiot (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Romain Combaud (Delko Marseille Provence) and Emiel Vermeulen (Natura4Ever-Roubaix Lille Métropole), building up a 35-second lead before the day’s first climb, the Côte de Montagnac.

At the end of the first hour, the riders had completed a massive 46km and still, the breakaway extended its lead to three minutes before the sprinters’ teams clamped down on the breakaway, keeping the gap stable for the next 80km.

The quartet worked well together, with Vermeulen taking out the first intermediate sprint bonus and Cousin sweeping up the second and third, while Capiot claimed both mountain primes to take the lead in that classification from stage 1 escapee Edward Planckaert.

But it was a sunny day, the terrain fairly flat, and the peloton’s legs still fresh, so the breakaway had little realistic chances to stay away. With 30km to go the gap was down to one minute and an attack from Cousin and Capiot split the breakaway, ending the cooperation and further scuttling their chances.

With 16km to go, the peloton was all back together, and a bunch sprint inevitable. Trek-Segafredo took to the front of the bunch, but a crash disrupted the pace and briefly split the peloton into several groups.

As the bunch regrouped, Arkéa-Samsic and Trek-Segafredo set the tempo before Cofidis and the Vital Concept team of leader Bryan Coquard came to the fore to ignite their sprint rivalry. Wallonie Bruxelles tried to insert themselves into the fray, but it was the Cofidis train that had the most diesel, and they delivered Laporte to a narrow victory over Venturini and Wouters. With Coquard missing out on the time bonuses in 19th place, Laporte moved into the race lead.

Results :
1 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits 3:30:59
2 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
3 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal
4 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Direct Energie
5 Roy Jans (Bel) Corendon-Circus
6 Pierre Barbier (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
7 Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
8 Bram Welten (Ned) Team Arkea-Samsic
9 August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
10 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
11 Jordi Warlop (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
12 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy
13 Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Corendon-Circus
14 Luca Colnaghi (Ita) Team Colpack
15 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
16 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Delko Marseille Provence
17 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) Lotto Soudal
18 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
19 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
20 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
21 Jalel Duranti (Ita) Team Colpack
22 Maxence Moncassin (Fra) Amore & Vita-Prodir
23 Stepan Kuriyanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
24 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Delko Marseille Provence
25 Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Pol) Delko Marseille Provence
26 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
27 Julien Trarieux (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
28 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
29 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie
30 Mikel Aristi Gardoki (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
31 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
32 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
33 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
34 Nassim Saidi (Alg) Sovac
35 Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
36 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Corendon-Circus
37 Iltjan Nika (Alb) Amore & Vita-Prodir
38 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
39 Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
40 Milan Menten (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
41 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
42 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Education First
43 Julen Irizar Laskurain (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
44 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First
45 Julien Morice (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
46 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ
47 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
48 Kevin Reza (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
49 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
50 Alessandro Covi (Ita) Team Colpack
51 Andrea Toniatti (Ita) Team Colpack
52 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
53 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First
54 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
55 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
56 Tom Dernies (Bel) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
57 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
58 Aritz Bagues Kalparsoro (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
59 Lukas Spengler (Swi) Wallonie Bruxelles
60 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
61 Julien Mortier (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
62 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
63 Elie Gesbert (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
64 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
65 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
66 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
67 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
68 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) EF Education First
69 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
70 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
71 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Direct Energie
72 Eduard-Michael Grosu (Rom) Delko Marseille Provence
73 Tom Wirtgen (Lux) Wallonie Bruxelles
74 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
75 Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
76 Samy Aurignac (Fra) Sovac
77 Romain Combaud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
78 Brice Feillu (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
79 Viesturs Luksevics (Lat) Amore & Vita-Prodir
80 Jimmy Janssens (Bel) Corendon-Circus
81 Brian van Goethem (Ned) Lotto Soudal
82 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Cofidis Solutions Credits
83 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
84 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
85 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
86 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
87 Dries De Bondt (Bel) Corendon-Circus
88 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
89 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
90 Marco Mathis (Ger) Cofidis Solutions Credits
91 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
92 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Direct Energie
93 Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits
94 Zico Waeytens (Bel) Cofidis Solutions Credits
95 Samuel Leroux (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
96 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
97 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
98 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Direct Energie
99 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
100 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
101 Laurent Evrard (Bel) Sovac
102 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Sovac
103 Maxime Daniel (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
104 Kevin Le Cunff (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
105 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
106 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
107 Nicolas Baldo (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
108 Christophe Masson (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
109 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Direct Energie
110 Guy Niv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
111 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
112 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
113 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Direct Energie
114 Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
115 Giulio Masotto (Ita) Team Colpack
116 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
117 Pierpaolo Ficara (Ita) Amore & Vita-Prodir
118 Thibault Guernalec (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
119 Marco Bernardinetti (Ita) Amore & Vita-Prodir
120 Emiel Vermeulen (Bel) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
121 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
122 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
123 Morné Van Niekerk (RSA) St Michel-Auber 93
124 Paolo Baccio (Ita) Team Colpack
125 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
126 Romain Hardy (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
127 Tony Hurel (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
128 Yoann Paillot (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
129 Thomas Vaubourzeix (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
130 Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First
131 Alexis Guerin (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
132 Ander Barrenetxea Uriarte (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
133 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
134 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Corendon-Circus
135 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits
136 Sergio Rodriguez Reche (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
137 Juan Antonio Lopez-Cozar Jaimez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
138 Danilo Celano (Ita) Amore & Vita-Prodir
139 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
140 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
141 Joeri Stallaert (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:00:50
142 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits 0:01:38
143 Boualem Belmokhtar (Alg) Sovac
144 Mohamed Bouzidi (Alg) Sovac 0:01:40
145 Jan-André Freuler (Swi) Amore & Vita-Prodir
146 Alo Jakin (Est) St Michel-Auber 93
147 Abderrahmane Mehdi Hamza (Alg) Sovac
148 Pierre Idjouadiene (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
149 Benjamin Perry (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:05:58
DNS Alfdan De Decker (Bel) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
DNF Matti Breschel (Den) EF Education First

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits 6:47:31
2 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
3 Jerome Cousin (Fra) Direct Energie 0:00:03
4 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:04
5 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
6 Pierre Barbier (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:00:06
7 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal
8 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
9 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:07
10 Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits
11 Emiel Vermeulen (Bel) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
12 Maxime Daniel (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:00:08
13 Julien Trarieux (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence 0:00:09
14 Romain Combaud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
15 Roy Jans (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:00:10
16 Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
17 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
18 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Direct Energie
19 Luca Colnaghi (Ita) Team Colpack
20 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
21 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
22 Bram Welten (Ned) Team Arkea-Samsic
23 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
24 Mikel Aristi Gardoki (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
25 Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Corendon-Circus
26 Jalel Duranti (Ita) Team Colpack
27 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) Lotto Soudal
28 Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Pol) Delko Marseille Provence
29 Jordi Warlop (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
30 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
31 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
32 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
33 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
34 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie
35 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
36 Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
37 Julen Irizar Laskurain (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
38 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
39 Tom Dernies (Bel) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
40 Maxence Moncassin (Fra) Amore & Vita-Prodir
41 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
42 Stepan Kuriyanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
43 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
44 Nassim Saidi (Alg) Sovac
45 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
46 Eduard-Michael Grosu (Rom) Delko Marseille Provence
47 Kevin Reza (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
48 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) EF Education First
49 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Delko Marseille Provence
50 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
51 Julien Mortier (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
52 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
53 August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
54 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
55 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ
56 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Corendon-Circus
57 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy
58 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
59 Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
60 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
61 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Delko Marseille Provence
62 Alessandro Covi (Ita) Team Colpack
63 Aritz Bagues Kalparsoro (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
64 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
65 Milan Menten (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
66 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
67 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
68 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) EF Education First
69 Zico Waeytens (Bel) Cofidis Solutions Credits
70 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
71 Samy Aurignac (Fra) Sovac
72 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Direct Energie
73 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
74 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
75 Iltjan Nika (Alb) Amore & Vita-Prodir
76 Elie Gesbert (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
77 Tom Wirtgen (Lux) Wallonie Bruxelles
78 Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
79 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
80 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Direct Energie
81 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First
82 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
83 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
84 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
85 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
86 Christophe Masson (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
87 Kevin Le Cunff (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
88 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
89 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First
90 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
91 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
92 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
93 Dries De Bondt (Bel) Corendon-Circus
94 Andrea Toniatti (Ita) Team Colpack
95 Marco Mathis (Ger) Cofidis Solutions Credits
96 Julien Morice (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
97 Jimmy Janssens (Bel) Corendon-Circus
98 Brian van Goethem (Ned) Lotto Soudal
99 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
100 Viesturs Luksevics (Lat) Amore & Vita-Prodir
101 Tony Hurel (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
102 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
103 Lukas Spengler (Swi) Wallonie Bruxelles
104 Brice Feillu (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
105 Paul Ourselin (Fra) Direct Energie
106 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
107 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
108 Samuel Leroux (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
109 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
110 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
111 Thibault Guernalec (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
112 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
113 Laurent Evrard (Bel) Sovac
114 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
115 Giulio Masotto (Ita) Team Colpack
116 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Sovac
117 Yoann Paillot (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
118 Alexis Guerin (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence
119 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
120 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Cofidis Solutions Credits
121 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
122 Nicolas Baldo (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
123 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
124 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Direct Energie
125 Morné Van Niekerk (RSA) St Michel-Auber 93
126 Guy Niv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
127 Paolo Baccio (Ita) Team Colpack
128 Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
129 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Corendon-Circus
130 Romain Hardy (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
131 Thomas Vaubourzeix (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
132 Pierpaolo Ficara (Ita) Amore & Vita-Prodir
133 Danilo Celano (Ita) Amore & Vita-Prodir
134 Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First
135 Sergio Rodriguez Reche (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
136 Ander Barrenetxea Uriarte (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
137 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
138 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits
139 Joeri Stallaert (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:01:00
140 Juan Antonio Lopez-Cozar Jaimez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:01:26
141 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits 0:01:48
142 Pierre Idjouadiene (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole 0:01:50
143 Alo Jakin (Est) St Michel-Auber 93
144 Mohamed Bouzidi (Alg) Sovac
145 Abderrahmane Mehdi Hamza (Alg) Sovac
146 Marco Bernardinetti (Ita) Amore & Vita-Prodir 0:02:24
147 Jan-André Freuler (Swi) Amore & Vita-Prodir 0:03:59
148 Boualem Belmokhtar (Alg) Sovac 0:04:10
149 Benjamin Perry (Can) Israel Cycling Academy 0:08:10