Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) won the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico in Pomerance today, beating Greg Van Avermaet (CCC) and EF Education First’s Alberto Bettiol to the line.
As a reduced group reached the final 200m, Alaphilippe went head-to-head with Greg Van Avermaet and held off the better sprinter to take the stage.
“I’m just so happy. I know that after the stage of yesterday we lost a lot of time so I tried to win a stage and today was a good opportunity,” said Alaphilippe, who won Strade Bianche on Saturday.
“We controlled the final with the team, everything was going my way like perfect, and then I pushed myself full gas until the line. I surprise myself day after day, and tomorrow is also a good opportunity for Elia [Viviani] in the sprint.”
After his Mitchelton-Scott team won Wednesday’s opening team time trial, Adam Yates moved into the overall lead by finishing fifth in the punchy finale.
“Not sure how long I’ll hold onto [the lead], but we’ll try our best and see how it goes,” said Yates. “This kind of finish doesn’t suit me down to the ground, it’s more for the punchier guys like Alaphilippe and Van Avermaet, so I’m happy with my position and we’ll just take it day by day and see what tomorrow brings.”
? ? ?SOUND ON! ???
Intense and breath-taking. The last 500m of @alafpolak!#TirrenoAdriatico @NamedSport pic.twitter.com/iENkTQN9J0— Tirreno Adriatico (@TirrenAdriatico) March 14, 2019
Tirreno-Adriatico 2019 – stage 2 results (Camaiore – Pomarance):
| 1 | Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | 4:48:09 |
| 2 | Greg Van Avermaet (CCC) | ,, |
| 3 | Alberto Bettiol (EF Education First) | ,, |
| 4 | Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 5 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 6 | Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 7 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | ,, |
| 8 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 9 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | ,, |
| 10 | Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
Tirreno-Adriatico 2019 – general classification after stage 2:
| 1 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | 5:10:34 |
| 2 | Brent Bookwalter (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 3 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | +07” |
| 4 | Laurens De Plus (Jumbo-Visma) | ,, |
| 5 | Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb | +22” |
| 6 | Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb | ,, |
| 7 | Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb | ,, |
| 8 | Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +27” |
| 9 | Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +37” |
| 10 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | +47” |
