Tour de Romandie 2017 – Stage 2 [LAST 10 KM]

April 27, 2017

Tour de Romandie 2017 – Stage 2 – Champéry – Bulle : 136,5 km

The Tour de Romandie is a stage race which is part of the UCI World Tour. It runs in the Romandie region, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It began in 1947, to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Swiss Cycling.

Stefan Küng (BMC) gave the Tour de Romandie its second home stage winner in the space of two days as the Swiss rider got the better of Andriy Grivko (Astana) in a two-up sprint at the end of Thursday’s stage 2, which was shortened due to snowy conditions.

Küng and Grivko were the last survivors of the day’s four-man breakaway, and their almost slow-motion final sprint – along with the fact they had escaped the clutches of the peloton in the first place – gave an indication of the exertions of what must have been a miserable day in the saddle.

Grivko led under the flamme rouge but soon Küng was ushered through to the front. He didn’t panic and calmly led the way on the drag to the line before upping his effort in the final few hundred metres. Grivko was in the wheel but simply didn’t have the strength to come round and mount a serious challenge.

Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Merida) finished third as the peloton, which had already swallowed up the other two members of the break – Frederik Veuchelen (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Sander Armée (Lotto Soudal) – crossed the line 20 seconds down. Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo) was safely in there to retain his overall lead in the race, with no change to the top of the general classification.

“I think the other guys suffered more than me. I think a 50kg climber suffers more than me in conditions like that. I know the roads here and I knew the last climb, so I told myself to go for it,” said Küng, who took a stage win at Romandie in his neo-pro season two years ago.

“I knew that I had to be first in the last corner. The finish rose slightly and so that helped me at the front. I’ve been practicing my sprint with Greg Van Avermaet for the Classics and that boosted my confidence for winning a sprint like that.”

How it happened

The riders arrived in Champéry for sign-on, but they would be setting off instead from Aigle in the valley below, as the risk of snow caused organisers to cut the opening descent from the race route.

The total distance was shortened by 22.3km to give a total of 136.5km, with the rest of the route remaining unchanged, containing three categorised climbs en route to the finish in Bulle.

Almost as soon as the flag had dropped, Sander Armée, who collected a wealth of KOM points from the breakaway Wednesday, went on the attack in a bid to take a grip on the jersey he won 12 months ago.

He was joined by Küng, Grivko and Veuchelen. Two others – Toms Skujins (Cannondale-Drapac) and Meiyin Wang (Bahrain Merida) – attempted to bridge across but were too late and never made it up.

Armée duly mopped up maximum points at the first climb of the day, the third-category ascent at Attalens after 30km, to regain the virtual lead in the mountains classification. As the break opened up a lead of more than five minutes, Armée once again bagged the points atop the third-category Esmonts climb some 35km later.

The second-category Chatelard climb would provide a sterner test at just under 10km. Armée, obviously, bagged the points from the break, while the peloton made its way up in steady fashion, most looking like they simply wanted to make it through the day.

Warren Barguil (Sunweb), crashed and had to abandon the race, while some others had had enough themselves, and climbed off on the first passage of the finish line in Bulle. Those who soldiered on were faced with a 20km circuit, and the main question was who was sufficiently interested in the stage win – or, perhaps, who was warm enough to even put in the effort.

Those in the break were certainly up for it – a day out front in such conditions should not go without reward. And, sensing a lack of impetus in the peloton, they shed Armée, two minutes down overall and therefore a moderate threat to the group’s chances of staying away.

At that point the gap was just over 2:30, and it only came down to two minutes with 10 kilometres to go, meaning the upper hand was well and truly with those out front. With four kilometres to go, Grivko put in an attack straight after Küng had taken a turn. The Swiss rider was able to shut it down, but it spelled curtains for Veuchelen.

From there the surviving duo kept things ticking over, riding steadily if not overly hard, before the cat-and-mouse could begin in the final kilometre. In the end, there wasn’t much of a contest as the conditions throughout the day meant the stage would be decided simply by who had most left in the tank, and that was Küng.

Results :
1 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 3:33:15
2 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team
3 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:20
4 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-Scott
5 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates
6 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
7 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
8 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo
9 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
10 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
11 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
12 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
13 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb
14 Hugo Houle (Can) AG2R La Mondiale
15 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
16 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
17 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
18 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
19 Lorenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ
20 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
21 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
22 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
23 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
24 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
25 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott
26 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
27 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ
28 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb
29 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
30 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
31 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
32 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
33 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
34 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
35 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal
36 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
37 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
38 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
39 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
40 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
41 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
42 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
43 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo
44 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
45 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
46 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
47 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
48 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team
49 Kevin Reza (Fra) FDJ
50 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
51 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ
52 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team
53 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
54 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
55 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
56 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
57 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
58 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team
59 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
60 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
61 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
62 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
63 Alberto Losada (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
64 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott
65 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
66 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott
67 Damien Howson (Aus) Orica-Scott
68 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
69 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
70 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb
71 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
72 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida
73 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida
74 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
75 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
76 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky
77 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
78 David Gaudu (Fra) FDJ
79 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
80 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
81 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team
82 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors
83 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
84 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
85 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
86 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
87 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
88 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates
89 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
90 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
91 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
92 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
93 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
94 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
95 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
96 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Katusha-Alpecin
97 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
98 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal
99 Annas Ait el Abdia (Mor) UAE Team Emirates
100 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
101 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team
102 Sam Bewley (NZl) Orica-Scott
103 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ
104 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
105 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
106 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
107 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott
108 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:45
109 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ
110 Youcef Reguigui (Alg) Dimension Data 0:00:51
111 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data 0:00:54
112 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:00
113 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:02
114 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
115 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data 0:01:29
116 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:30
117 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:33
118 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:38
119 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:04
120 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:20:00
121 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:24
122 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:03:02
123 Jay Robert Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:03:29
124 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
125 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
126 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal
127 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac
128 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
129 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac
130 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:05:02
131 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
132 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo
133 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
134 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
135 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data
136 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky 0:07:29
137 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:09:22
138 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky 0:10:18
139 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal
140 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:10:36
141 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors 0:10:37
142 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
143 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
144 William Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
145 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
146 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Dimension Data
147 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida
148 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team
149 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:13:09
DNF Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
DNF Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
DNF Léo Vincent (Fra) FDJ

General classification after Stage 2 :
1 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 8:12:42
2 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:08
3 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team
4 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:09
5 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:12
6 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors
7 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:13
8 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
9 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott 0:00:14
10 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team
11 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
12 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:15
13 Damien Howson (Aus) Orica-Scott
14 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:16
15 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
16 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:00:18
17 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:00:19
18 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:20
19 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
20 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
21 Lennard Kämna (Ger) Team Sunweb
22 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
23 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
24 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:21
25 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
26 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:23
27 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
28 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:24
29 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
30 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:25
31 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott 0:00:26
32 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:27
33 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:28
34 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) FDJ
35 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
36 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:29
37 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
38 David Gaudu (Fra) FDJ
39 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
40 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:30
41 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team
42 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
43 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:00:31
44 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
45 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:33
46 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
47 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team 0:00:34
48 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
49 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
50 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:36
51 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:37
52 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
53 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
54 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:42
55 Annas Ait el Abdia (Mor) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:44
56 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:53
57 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:54
58 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:58
59 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data 0:01:02
60 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
61 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:04
62 Alberto Losada (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:09
63 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:25
64 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb 0:01:37
65 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:42
66 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:53
67 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:03
68 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott
69 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
70 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ 0:02:04
71 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:07
72 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:14
73 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:21
74 Youcef Reguigui (Alg) Dimension Data 0:03:03
75 Hugo Houle (Can) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:35
76 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:03:36
77 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ 0:04:34
78 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data 0:04:47
79 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:04:50
80 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:04:59
81 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:05:23
82 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:05:24
83 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:05:28
84 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:06:09
85 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:06:42
86 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
87 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Cannondale-Drapac 0:06:48
88 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky 0:07:33
89 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:07:56
90 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:08:08
91 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:08:34
92 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:09:05
93 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:09:13
94 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:09:17
95 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:09:19
96 Kevin Reza (Fra) FDJ 0:09:23
97 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:09:26
98 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:09:28
99 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto Soudal 0:09:29
100 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:09:33
101 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
102 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates 0:09:34
103 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:09:35
104 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ 0:09:36
105 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:09:38
106 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:09:44
107 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:09:54
108 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data 0:10:01
109 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert 0:10:20
110 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:10:45
111 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida 0:11:17
112 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac 0:12:40
113 Jay Robert Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:12:41
114 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:12:43
115 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:12:44
116 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team 0:12:45
117 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:12:46
118 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:12:52
119 Sam Bewley (NZl) Orica-Scott 0:12:57
120 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:13:01
121 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:13:04
122 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:13
123 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:13:14
124 Lorenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ 0:13:15
125 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:38
126 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors 0:13:49
127 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:14:16
128 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:14:18
129 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:15:04
130 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:15:46
131 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:16:44
132 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:17:02
133 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:17:08
134 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:18:30
135 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida 0:20:11
136 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:20:22
137 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:20:24
138 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:21:01
139 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:21:36
140 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:21:54
141 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:23:02
142 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:23:15
143 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Dimension Data 0:23:40
144 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:24:27
145 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky 0:24:57
146 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 0:27:24
147 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo 0:27:40
148 William Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:27:47
149 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors 0:28:03