A late break from the peloton by Niccolo Bonifazio lit up the final kilometre of stage 2 of the Saudi Tour as the Italian held on for victory just two seconds ahead of the bunch.
Bonifazio was quickly followed across the line by Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain McLaren) and Nacer Bouhanni (Arkea-Samsic).
Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) maintains a wafer thin lead after the 187km run from Sadus Castle to the outskirts of Riyadh, just one second ahead of Heinrich Haussler, with Bouhanni a further second back in third.
Thursday’s shorter but hilly 119km run from King Saud University to Al Bujairi will potentially shake up the standings with a further hilly stage before Saturday’s flat final stage run around Riyahd.
Saudi Tour 2020 – stage 2 results (Sadus Castle – Riyadh):
| 1 | Niccolò Bonifazio (Total Direct Energie) | 4:32:31 |
| 2 | Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain McLaren) | +02” |
| 3 | Nacer Bouhanni (Arkea – Samsic) | ,, |
| 4 | Timothy Dupont (Circus-Wanty Gobert) | ,, |
| 5 | Jens Debusschere (B&B Hotels – Vital Concept) | ,, |
| 6 | Orluis Aular (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | ,, |
| 7 | Imerio Cima (Gazprom-RusVelo) | ,, |
| 8 | August Jensen (Riwal Readynez) | ,, |
| 9 | Julien Trarieux (Nippo Delko One Provence) | ,, |
| 10 | Youcef Reguigui (Terengganu Inc. TSG) | ,, |
Saudi Tour 2020 – general classification after stage 2:
| 1 | Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) | 8:24:35 |
| 2 | Heinrich Haussler (Bahrain McLaren) | +01” |
| 3 | Nacer Bouhanni (Arkea – Samsic) | +02” |
| 4 | Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain McLaren) | +09” |
| 5 | Andreas Lorentz Kron (Riwal Readynez) | +10” |
| 6 | Jens Debusschere (B&B Hotels – Vital Concept) | ,, |
| 7 | Carlos Barbero (NTT) | ,, |
| 8 | Matteo Malucelli (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) | ,, |
| 9 | Sergey Chernetskiy (Gazprom-RusVelo) | ,, |
| 10 | Lucas Carsttensen (Bike Aid) | ,, |
