Zdenek Stybar on Thursday timed his attack to perfection to win the Tirreno-Adriatico’s second stage and move into the overall lead.
The Czech rider went clear at the top of the tricky final climb, opening up a gap on the short descent and holding off the chasing pack to win the 207km stage from Italy’s Camaiore to Pomarance.
Peter Sagan of Slovakia was second, leading home an elite group of chasers finishing 1 second behind Stybar. Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway was third.
Photo: EPA
“We planned it a little bit two-and-a-half weeks ago with [Etixx-Quick-Step sport director Davide] Bramati that this could be a stage for me. So I was pretty focused for this stage,” Stybar said.
“I knew that the last 2 or 3km were very technical, which is good for me. I tried to go. I didn’t really plan to go there, but I saw the opportunity, the space, and I thought: ‘OK, the bunch will slow and I’ll go with everything I have,’” he said.
Local favorite Diego Ulissi attacked on the slopes of Il Cerreto, which had gradients of more than 16 percent, but he was reeled in and passed by Stybar near the summit.
Vincenzo Nibali gave chase in the final kilometer, but was unable to bridge the gap and the Italian was swallowed up by the peloton in the sprint to the line.
US squad BMC Racing won the opening team trial stage on Wednesday to put Daniel Oss into the leader’s blue jersey, but the 10-second stage winner’s time bonus saw Stybar take the overall lead.
The Etixx-Quick-Step rider has an advantage of 9 seconds over Oss’ teammates, Greg van Avermaet and Tejay van Garderen.
The Tirreno-Adriatico was yesterday to continue with a 176km ride from Castelnuovo Val di Cecina to Montalto di Castro.
PARIS-NICE
AP, ROMANS-SUR-ISERE, France
French rider Nacer Bouhanni on Thursday outpaced his rivals in a sprint finish to win the fourth stage of the Paris-Nice race, while Australian Michael Matthews retained the overall lead.
Matthews beat Bouhanni in controversial circumstances on Tuesday’s second stage when Bouhanni was penalized for deviating from his line in the final sprint.
“This time there’s no controversy, I won,” Bouhanni said. “Of course I was a bit revengeful, what happened in Tuesday’s sprint upset me, and I slept badly that night. It consumed a lot of my energy and I wanted this win to forget all of that.”
Bouhanni held off Belgian rider Edward Theuns and Andre Greipel of Germany to win the 195.5km trek from Julienas to Romans-sur-Isere at the foot of the Vercors mountain range in the Alps of southeastern France.
Matthews leads Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands by 14 seconds overall, with Patrick Bevin of New Zealand 19 seconds back in third place.
The standings were set for a shakeup yesterday, when stage 5 takes the peloton up the famed Mont Ventoux, one of the most feared climbs on the Tour de France.
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