News: Tour du Limousin Stage 2

Fernando Gaviria wins stage 2 of the Tour du Limousin Stage on a day when the race was well split at the finish, Joel Sutter leads overall with Jake Stewart in 6th

News: Tour du Limousin Stage 2

Photo: Zoe Soullard – Tour du Limousin

On the day of his 26th birthday, Fernando Gaviria put in an emphatic display of strength to win stage 2 of the Tour du Limousin in France. In a finish marked by narrow roads with punchy climbs, Gaviria saw himself with strong legs, jumping from the bunch and countering the many attacks on the run-in inside 12km to go.

With 25km still left to go, the gap to the breakaway hovered at around 2’30 but with some strong pulls on the front from team captain Marco Marcato and his other UAE teammates the gap was quickly reduced to the three escapees.

The key move came just a kilometre from the line, when Joel Suter (Bingoal- Wallonie Bruxelles) moved clear with Gaviria quickly jumping on his wheel. The Colombian unleashed his trademark sprint with 200m to go to win comfortably and claim the teams 17th victory of the season. Joel Suter now leads the General Classification with Rui Costa in 9th place at 16″.

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Gaviria: “I’m very happy about today. It’s the best birthday present I could have asked for. Yesterday was just that little bit too hard for me on the second last climb but I looked at the course today and knew it would suit me better. It was a complicated finish. It was important to stay near the front on the narrow roads on the run-in to the line, even if it meant jumping off the front and following attacks , as I did. I’m happy the legs were there to be able to do it. At the moment I’m building up to the big goal which is the Giro d’Italia, but there are a lot of races I want to do well in before then.”

Michael Storer: “Today we were hoping to go for the sprint with Max,” explained a smiling Storer at the finish. “We rode really well together early on in the stage. The final started really quickly on the narrow, twisty roads. The race was harder than we expected because of the narrow roads and the fast pace. I was able to attack and form a group ahead that ended up staying towards the finish. I’m really happy to get fourth place today; you always hope for more but I’m happy with the result.”

Result
1. Fernando Gaviria UAE Team Emirates 4:13:18
2. Joel Suter Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles
3. Kevin Ledanois Team Arkea-Samsic @ 2
4. Michael Storer Team Sunweb
5. Alessandro Fedeli Nippo Delko Provence
6. Quentin Jauregui AG2R La Mondiale @ 4
7. Geoffrey Bouchard AG2R La Mondiale
8. Jon Aberasturi Caja Rural-Seguros RGA @ 7
9. Thomas Boudat Team Arkea-Samsic
10. Filippo Fiorelli Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè

26. Connor Swift
29. Jake Stewart
84 Sam Brand

Overall
1. Joel Sutter
2. Luca Wackermann
3. Kevin Ledanois

6. Jake Stewart
15. Connor Swift