Albasini sprints to victory in Tour of the Basque Country stage 2

Michael Albasini (Orica-Scott) won stage two of the Tour of the Basque Country from Pamplona to Eltziego on Tuesday.

Race leader Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) delivered a big effort in the final sprint but had to settle for fourth place. Max Richeze (Quick-Step Floors) was second by a wheel, and Sean De Bie (Lotto-Soudal) was third.

Stage two of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco began very much like yesterday’s stage with a breakaway forming in the first 10kilometres.

Two riders, Fabricio Ferrari (Caja-Rural) and Luis Maté (Cofidis), quickly establish a sizeable advantage of three minutes and remained out front for the majority of the stage.

The current race leaders, Team Sunweb, set the initial pace on the front of the peloton, gradually reeling in the duo before making the catch with just 14kilometres remaining.

Orica-Scott remained in good position at the head of the peloton keeping Gerrans and Albasini in the front position ahead of the frantic, fast dash for the line.

A late effort with around 500metres to go saw Albasini move up to the front and launch from out of the wheels, successfully powering all the way to the line, to claim his first victory of the season.

“I actually didn’t feel so great during the stage,” Albasini explained after his first win of the season. “We had big chain rings on which I am not really used to riding but it was downhill and very fast in the end and it actually worked out very well.”

“We decided around 25kilometres to go that I would try the sprint today. I was looking before the race on the satellite pictures and for me it was pretty clear that we wouldn’t change position much in the final 300-400metres.

“When the guys attacked in the final I went straight away and we didn’t change position much so that was the key to winning today.”

Tour of the Basque Country 2017 – stage 2 results (Pamplona – Eltziego):

General classification after stage 2: