The 2nd stage of the Amgen Tour of California would see another mass sprint with a close on identical result sheet to yesterday’s stage. Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quickstep) took his 2nd victory in as many days with Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) again the bridesmaid. Wouter Wippert (Drapac) secured the final podium spot.
It was Tyler Farrar who would be mixing it up in the finale for MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung once again and just like yesterday, the American would cross the line in 8th spot after a rather messy sprint. The run-in to the line was disrupted by a crash that occurred in the front portion of the peloton with 10km to go. A number of leadout riders from various teams were caught up in the crash resulting in no particular team being able to dominate the final few kilometers.
MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung were unfortunate to have Gerald Ciolek and Jacques Janse van Rensburg caught up in the chaos. With Jacques being our GC contender this week he had a frantic chase to try and get back to the front of the race after the crash. Eventually our South African champ did well to limit his losses to only 22 seconds. Gerald was obviously also unable to assist Theo Bos and Matt Goss in leading out Tyler but we can be thankful that none of our boys were seriously injured.
Tomorrow will be an exciting stage and with a few climbs on route, our African team will be hoping to capitalize on the tougher parcours that should be more to the liking of our sprinters.
Tyler Farrar – Rider
