Alexander Kristoff powered to victory on the second stage of the Tour of Germany on Friday in Goettingen to take the overall lead.
The 32-year-old edged out Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) at the end of the 202km ride from Marburg.
Kristoff is now 10 seconds clear of Colbrelli at the top of the overall standings, with Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) third, two seconds further adrift.
Julian Alaphilippe and Vincenzo Nibali, who finished safely in the peloton, were among those to attempt unsuccessful breakaways.
“The stage was a bit crazy,” said Alaphilippe. “It went all the way, it was a lot of fun.”
Caleb Ewan, who won three stages on this year’s Tour de France, retired from the race suffering from a “sore throat”, his team Lotto Soudal said.
Saturday’s penultimate stage runs 189km from Goettingen to Eisenach and features three categorised climbs.
Deutschland Tour 2019 – stage 2 results (Marburg – Göttingen):
| 1 | Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) |
4:21:04 |
| 2 | Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrian-Merida) |
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| 3 | Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) |
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| 4 | Ben Swift (Team Ineos) |
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| 5 | Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) |
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| 6 | Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data) |
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| 7 | Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb) |
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| 8 | Timo Roosen (Jumbo-Visma) |
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| 9 | Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) |
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| 10 | Jens Keukeleire (Lotto Soudal) |
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Deutschland Tour 2019 – general classification after stage 2:
| 1 | Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) |
8:10:18 |
| 2 | Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrian-Merida) |
+10” |
| 3 | Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) |
+12” |
| 4 | Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb) |
+13” |
| 5 | Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) |
+14” |
| 6 | Tom-Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data) |
,, |
| 7 | Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) |
+15” |
| 8 | Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) |
+16” |
| 9 | Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data) |
,, |
| 10 | Ben Swift (Team Ineos) |
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