Stage 2: Javron-les-Chapelles -> Mont des Avaloirs (140km)
Casper loses jersey as Tombuk takes it and Plouhinec breaks away for stage honours.

Stage 2 was a brutal one for the peloton. They had some huge climbs during the stage aswell as a circuit of 3 laps which passed Mont Des Avaloire three times. The finish line was located here and this stage was going to be hot from the outset.

This stage begun with windy roads and that was the perfect way to start an escape with one forming 6km into the race. A group of 3 was allowed to get away and they were; Sébastien Duret (Bretagne Schuller) and Samuel Plouhinec (Team Wilo agem 72), and a young rider of 23 years, Arnaud Madec (Côtes d'Armor Maître Jacques).

The trio had their lead to over 6 minutes at one stage and this was a dangerous stage, the hardest stage of the Tour to let them get too big of an advantage. Soon the gap started to go down ever so slightly as Agritubel started to lead the peloton.

Madec dropped off and soon there were only two in the lead, Duret and Plouhinec. On the last climb to Mont Des Avaloire, Plouhinec attacked and got a sizeable lead one which Duret couldn’t catch. In the end he won quite comfortably. Duret was second 15 seconds behind with Tombak.

This was Plouhinec’s first win of the season and one he can be proud of.

As for the Estonian, Tombak, he has the yellow jersey and leads by 12 seconds over his nearest rival, Remi Cusin (Agritubel). The podium is rounded out by Lillan Jegou (Besson Chassures Sojasun).

Drapac Porsche

Over the climb for the first of three ascensions Drapac Porsche had Gene Bates and Joe Lewis comfortably in the middle of the main group with Peter McDonald and Stuart Shaw just trailing this group over the summit. Unfortunately Mark O’Brien was brought down in a crash approaching the climb breaking his seat in the process and forcing him to ride the final 40 kilometres by himself. Luckily Mark did not receive any serious injuries apart from the obligatory gravel rash and a sore hand.

Joe rode with experience well exceeding his young age helping Gene move through the group before pulling to the side and finishing just behind the main group. Gene fought on until he blew with 500 metres still to climb. This is a great result from Gene only arriving in Europe last weekend.

Tomorrow’s final stage concludes where it began in Laval with the cyclists completing five laps through the centre of the city.

Stage 2 Classification
1 PLOUHINEC Samuel TWA FRA 4h 24mn 17sec
2 DURET Sébastien BSC FRA 4h 25mn 31sec
3 TOMBAK Janek CCB EST 4h 25mn 31sec
4 CUSIN Rémi AGR FRA 4h 25mn 31sec
5 GALLAND Jérémie BCS FRA 4h 25mn 31sec
6 PETRUS Lubomir BKP CZE 4h 25mn 35sec
7 DELPECH Jean Luc BSC FRA 4h 25mn 38sec
8 JEGOU Lilian BSC FRA 4h 25mn 38sec
9 MOLMY Arnaud CCN FRA 4h 25mn 38sec
10 MARIE Yannick POM FRA 4h 25mn 41sec
11 PEDERSEN Martin CPI DEN 4h 25mn 41sec
12 ROBERTS Luke TRS AUS 4h 25mn 41sec
13 LIVRAMENTO David PRT POR 4h 25mn 41sec
14 VOGONDY Nicolas AGR FRA 4h 25mn 41sec
15 CAUQUIL Johan CCB FRA 4h 25mn 41sec
16 WALSLEBEN Philipp BKP GER 4h 25mn 41sec
17 BAR Jocelyn CCN FRA 4h 25mn 41sec
18 GARCIA DE MATEOS Raul ANG ESP 4h 25mn 41sec
19 PERSSON Lukas CPI SWE 4h 25mn 41sec
20 PRADES REVERTRE Eduard ANG ESP 4h 25mn 41sec
Complete Stage Classification

General Classification
1 161 EST19760722 TOMBAK Janek CCB EST 8 39 26
2 5 FRA19860203 CUSIN Rémi AGR FRA 8 39 38 0 12
3 15 FRA19760120 JEGOU Lilian BSC FRA 8 39 44 0 18
4 114 NED19890908 BOL Jetse RB3 NED J 8 39 49 0 23
5 142 FRA19860820 FOUCHARD Julien COT FRA A 8 39 54 0 28
6 62 DEN19830415 PEDERSEN Martin CPI DEN 8 40 00 0 34
7 1 FRA19790909 BICHOT Freddy AGR FRA 8 40 00 0 34
8 31 FRA19780528 CASPER Jimmy BCS FRA 8 40 04 0 38
9 36 FRA19830408 GALLAND Jérémie BCS FRA 8 40 08 0 42
10 172 GER19871119 WALSLEBEN Philipp BKP GER J 8 40 11 0 45
11 102 FRA19770804 CHARRIER Franck TWA FRA A 8 40 12 0 46
12 134 IRL19780429 O LOUGHLIN David SKT IRL 8 40 15 0 49
13 112 NED19881208 VRIJMOED Maurice RB3 NED J 8 40 44 1 18
14 12 FRA19830310 DALIBARD Antoine BSC FRA 8 40 59 1 33
15 101 FRA19760305 PLOUHINEC Samuel TWA FRA A 8 43 02 3 36
16 195 ESP19870809 PRADES REVERTRE Eduard ANG ESP J 8 44 10 4 44
17 13 FRA19791027 DELPECH Jean Luc BSC FRA 8 44 15 4 49
18 14 FRA19800903 DURET Sébastien BSC FRA 8 44 21 4 55
19 166 FRA19850304 CAUQUIL Johan CCB FRA 8 44 25 4 59
20 2 FRA19770808 VOGONDY Nicolas AGR FRA 8 44 26 5 00
Complete General Classification

Points Classification
1 161 TOMBAK Janek CCB EST 39
2 5 CUSIN Rémi AGR FRA 32
3 31 CASPER Jimmy BCS FRA 31
4 15 JEGOU Lilian BSC FRA 27
5 101 PLOUHINEC Samuel TWA FRA 25
6 62 PEDERSEN Martin CPI DEN 21
7 14 DURET Sébastien BSC FRA 20
8 36 GALLAND Jérémie BCS FRA 18
9 114 BOL Jetse RB3 NED 11
10 2 VOGONDY Nicolas AGR FRA 11
Complete Points Classification

Mountains Classification
1 14 DURET Sébastien BSC FRA 38
2 62 PEDERSEN Martin CPI DEN 29
3 101 PLOUHINEC Samuel TWA FRA 24
4 12 DALIBARD Antoine BSC FRA 14
5 143 MADEC Arnaud COT FRA 10
6 134 O LOUGHLIN David SKT IRL 8
7 142 FOUCHARD Julien COT FRA 5
8 92 ANTOMARCHI Julien POM FRA 4
9 46 STARODUBTSEV Stanislav KTA RUS 2
10 5 CUSIN Rémi AGR FRA 1

Teams Classification
1 BRETAGNE SCHULLER PRO 26 03 57
2 AGRITUBEL PRO 26 04 07 0 10
3 RABOBANK CONTINENTAL TEAM PRO 26 05 17 1 20
4 BESSON Chaussures SOJASUN PRO 26 08 03 4 06
5 TEAM WILO AGEM 72 A 26 08 07 4 10
6 BKCP POWERPLUS PRO 26 09 10 5 13
7 CYCLING CLUB BOURGAS PRO 26 09 40 5 43
8 AN POST SEAN KELLY TEAM PRO 26 09 58 6 01
9 TEAM CAPINORDIC PRO 26 10 03 6 06
10 CC NOGENT SUR OISE A 26 14 21 10 24
11 VC LA POMME MARSEILLE A 26 14 25 10 28
12 PALMEIRAS RESORT PRIO PRO 26 14 39 10 42
13 TEAM U NANTES ATLANTIQUE A 26 14 44 10 47
14 VENDEE U A 26 14 49 10 52
15 TEAM KUOTA INDELAND PRO 26 15 15 11 18
16 COTES D'ARMOR MAITRE JACQUES A 26 17 48 13 51
17 ANDORRA GRANDVALIRA PRO 26 18 59 15 02
18 JONG VLAANDEREN BAUKNECHT PRO 26 20 58 17 01
19 KATYUSHA CONTINENTAL TEAM PRO 26 22 52 18 55
20 DRAPAC PORSCHE CYCLING PRO 26 23 19 19 22

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