September 4/14 18:09 pm - Tour of Alberta: Stage 2
Posted by Editoress on 09/4/14
Sweden’s Alstrand Speeds to Win Stage 2 at Red Deer
The Netherlands’s Tom Domoulin Retains Leader’s Jersey
Sweden’s Jonas Alstrand of Team Giant-Shimano outsprinted The Netherland’s Theo Bos of Belkin-Pro Cycling to win Stage 2 of the Tour of Alberta, presented by ATB Financial, at Red Deer Thursday.
Alstrand’s win also helped teammate Tom Domoulin retain the Province of Alberta Leader’s Jersey. Germany’s Ruben Zepuntke of the Bissell Development Team, who entered the day in second place, 13 seconds behind Domoulin, gained four seconds via a four-second time bonus at the finish line.
“The plan worked out very well for us, and I’m glad to stay in the leader’s jersey. And, we got the stage win,” said Domoulin. “But we burned a lot of energy. Our team is very tired from the chase. We have Jonas to thank for a great finish.”
Alstrand, Bos and Zepuntke drag-raced the final 500 metres with a downhill sprint topping off at close to 80 kilometres per hour.
“That was a fast one,” Alstrand said, referring to the final run-in. “I stayed in the wheels on the final climb (about 3 km from the finish) and made it over the top in the top ten. The run in was real quick and I was able to follow the wheel of Bos and another, then wait until 200m to go to launch my sprint.”
The stage was one of the fastest in the two-year history of the event, averaging 47.8 kilometres an hour (29.7 mph). A long breakaway instituted by Orica-GreenEDGE’s Simon Yates of Great Britain went clear for most of the second-half of the race. American Kiel Reijnen of UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling, Yates and eventual breakaway companion, Ben King of Garmin-Sharp, who bridged coming into the three-lap circuit in Red Deer, stayed clear until 3 kilometres remaining in the race.
“I was really trying to steal the overall lead more than go for a stage win,” Reijnen said. “Ben and I were giving it a go and weren’t that short. The race was real fast today.”
The American riding for UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling is coming off a stage win and overall Sprint Points jersey win at last month’s USA Pro Challenge in Colorado, U.S.A. Reijnen and King entered the race both 26 seconds behind race leader Domoulin.
Domoulin’s lead is now nine seconds over Zepuntke, the revelation of this year’s Tour of Alberta. Domoulin won Tuesday’s Prologue opener in Calgary while Zepuntke won Wednesday’s rainy stage at Lethbridge. However, it was Alstrand’s day after Team Giant-Shimano chased all the day to ensure Domoulin’s continued race lead.
Friday’s Stage 3 will start in Wetaskiwin and route northerly through sprint lines in New Sarepta and Fort Saskatchewan before a unique finish on an airstrip at the Edmonton Garrison. The 156.9 kilometre race will finish with a flat fast finish that should again feature the race’s top sprinters. Time bonuses of 10, 6, and 4 seconds respectively will be awarded to the Top 3 finishers.
The Tour of Alberta presented by ATB Financial is Canada’s biggest professional cycling stage race and ranked as one of the highest outside of Europe. It is sanctioned by the Union Cyclist Internationale, international governing body for the sport and the Canadian Cycling Association, the national governing body for the sport in Canada.
Coverage continues on Rogers SportsNet One Friday from 2:00 to 4:00 pm MDT. The event is being televised to 121 countries. The elite, all-professional field is down to 113 cyclists from the 118 that started Tuesday. Athletes from 19 countries are represented in the race.
Canadians
Hugo Houle posted the best result for Team Canada, finishing with the main group in 46th place. Garrett McLeod, Benjamin Perry and Jordan Cheyne also finished with the bunch. Houle is currently the top-ranked national team member in the General Classification, jumping two spots to sit in 40th position.
"Garrett, Hugo, Ben, and Jordan all remained in the peloton and only after good teamwork did the others trail in behind," commented team manager Gord Fraser. "An uneventful day here but after yesterday, it was welcome. Another 150 kilometre stage tomorrow from Wetaskiwin to Edmonton-Garrison, and perhaps the ominous cross winds may appear."
Ryan Anderson (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) is still leading the Top Canadian standings, jumping from seventh to fifth in the General Classification, 17 seconds behind race leader Dumoulin.
LEADER BOARD
Province of Alberta Leader’s Jersey
Tom Dumoulin (NED), Team Giant-Shimano
SUBWAY® Sprint Points Jersey
Ruben Zepuntke (GER), Bissell Development
Go Auto King of the Mountain Jersey
Simon Yates (GBR), Orica-GreenEDGE
ATB Financial Best Young Rider Jersey
Tom Dumoulin (NED), Team Giant-Shimano
Pomeroy Inn & Suites Best Canadian Jersey
Ryan Anderson (CAN), Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
Simson Maxwell Power Jersey
Kiel Reijnen (USA), UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
Tour of Alberta press release
Brief results from the third stage in Alberta
| Stage 2: Innisfail to Red Deer, 145.3 km (Top 10 + CDNs in Top 90) | |
| 1 Jonas Ahlstrand (Swe) Team Giant-Shimano | 3:02:14 |
| 2 Theo Bos (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | |
| 3 Ruben Zepuntke (Ger) Bissell Development Team | |
| 4 Eric Young (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | |
| 5 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Cannondale | |
| 6 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin-Sharp | |
| 7 Nicolai Brochner (Den) Bissell Development Team | |
| 8 Serghei Tvetcov (Mda) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis | |
| 9 Nicky van der Lijke (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | |
| 10 Daniel Summerhill (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team | |
| 11 Zach Bell (Can) Team SmartStop | |
| 16 Pierrick Naud (Can) Garneau - Québecor | |
| 20 Christian Meier (Can) Orica GreenEDGE | |
| 30 Ryan Anderson (Can) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | |
| 40 Michael Woods (Can) 5-Hour Energy p/b Kenda | |
| 46 Hugo Houle (Can) Canadian National Team | |
| 48 Matteo Dal-Cin (Can) Silber Pro Cycling | |
| 54 Benjamin Perry (Can) Canadian National Team | |
| 55 Garrett McLeod (Can) Canadian National Team | |
| 57 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Canadian National Team | |
| 58 Ryan Roth (Can) Silber Pro Cycling | |
| 60 Jean-Michel Lachance (Can) Silber Pro Cycling | |
| 63 Bruno Langlois (Can) 5-Hour Energy p/b Kenda | all s.t. |
| 74 William Goodfellow (Can) Silber Pro Cycling | 0:22 |
| 79 Rob Britton (Can) Team SmartStop | 0:40 |
| 80 Jean-Sebastian Perron (Can) Canadian National Team | |
| 81 Adam de Vos (Can) Canadian National Team | |
| 82 Stuart Wight (Can) Canadian National Team | |
| 84 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Silber Pro Cycling | all s.t. |
| 89 Will Routley (Can) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | 0:51 |
| GC (Top 10 + CDNs in Top 45) | |
| 1 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano | 6:26:23 |
| 2 Ruben Zepuntke (Ger) Bissell Development Team | at 0:09 |
| 3 Serghei Tvetcov (Mda) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis | 0:14 |
| 5 Ryan Anderson (Can) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies | 0:17 |
| 6 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica GreenEDGE | s.t. |
| 7 Davide Villella (Ita) Cannondale | 0:18 |
| 8 Daniel Summerhill (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team | |
| 9 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Team | all s.t. |
| 10 Christian Meier (Can) Orica GreenEDGE | 0:22 |
| 16 Michael Woods (Can) 5-Hour Energy p/b Kenda | 0:23 |
| 29 Jean-Michel Lachance (Can) Silber Pro Cycling | 0:42 |
| 38 Zach Bell (Can) Team SmartStop | 1:03 |
| 39 Ryan Roth (Can) Silber Pro Cycling | 1:04 |
| 40 Hugo Houle (Can) Canadian National Team | 1:20 |
| 45 Garrett McLeod (Can) Canadian National Team | 1:26 |
Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Object of class PDO could not be converted to string in /home/canadiancyclistcom/canadiancyclist.com/public/modules/news.php:544 Stack trace: #0 /home/canadiancyclistcom/canadiancyclist.com/public/modules/news.php(533): getrelatedgallery() #1 /home/canadiancyclistcom/canadiancyclist.com/public/dailynews.php(58): getDailyNewsArticle() #2 {main} thrown in /home/canadiancyclistcom/canadiancyclist.com/public/modules/news.php on line 544