Tirreno-Adriatico. Astana's Fuglsang in uphill finish at Stage 2
But everything came back together, making it an uphill sprint for the favorites with Julian Alaphilippe claiming the stage win. Adam Yates is the new race leader after stage 2, Astana ProTeam's Official website reads.
"It was a good final, we wanted to try something and with Alexey Lutsenko we had the best chance for a stage win. I tried to make a gap with Alexey in my wheel, and he made it in a group of five riders eventually. It was unlucky for him that two riders of this group were not riding, so it all regrouped in the final kilometer. But it was good that we tried, as we have to use every possibility in this race to try something as we lost too much time yesterday at the TTT. In the end, I was there finishing in the top 10, it shows that we have possibilities to do something in this race. We have to take every opportunity without wasting too much energy in the next days, and look for a stage win," said Jakob Fuglsang.
At Tirreno-Adriatico stage 2, it all came down to the uphill finish in Pomarance after 195 kilometers of racing. Right from the start in Camaiore, five riders got clear to form the day's breakaway. They had a maximum advantage of 4 minutes during the stage, as the peloton controlled the gap. Before the final climb, the break got caught by the chasing peloton. During this climb, the riders of Astana Pro Team were placed well at the front, making it possible for Jakob Fuglsang and Kazakh champion Alexey Lutsenko to attack with less than 6 kilometers to the finish line.
The peloton started to split on the climb as they caught both Astana riders, and a group of five riders got clear including Lutsenko once again. But this group was not able to stay clear as well, making it an uphill sprint with a reduced peloton. In the end, Julian Alaphilippe was the strongest sprinter of the field and it was Adam Yates who's the new race leader by finishing fifth. Jakob Fuglsang finished ninth, Alexey Lutsenko twenty-first.
On March 15 the riders face the longest stage of this edition of Tirreno-Adriatico, 226 kilometers from Pomarance to Foligno.
