June 4/10 23:35 pm - Nations Cup-Ville de Saguenay - Stage 2

Posted by Editoress on 06/4/10
 

After either covering or initiating all the major breaks of the day, Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot outsprinted Dane Christopher Juul-Jensen and Slovenian Luka Mezgec on the streets of La Baie to win stage two of the Ville de Saguenay. The three had managed to escape from a 13 man breakaway that had barely regrouped with less than five kilometre to go. Teklehaimanot also captured the yellow jersey with his efforts, and now leads the general classification with a lead of 12 seconds over Mezgec.

The young African, who finished sixth overall last year at the Tour de l'Avenir in France, was rather calm at the finish: "I felt good on the hills and most of the breakaway groups were not working together properly, so I attacked with three guys. We rode for more or less 40 kilometres like that and got caught by nine guys on the end of the last lap, then I went again with three others guys .... we will see how we will defend the jersey tomorrow" Teklehaimanot is part of UCI Training Center Team, created by the UCI to help support the talent coming out of poorer federations.

The best North American of the day was Arnaud Papillon of Canada in fifth, 13 seconds down. He now lies in seventh overall, 28 seconds down. "It was a hard day with the hills and wind, and when this group of 13 formed I started to focus on how to win the stage, as I felt good and knew I had a good sprint. Being the sole Canadian on the break for the last 40 kilometres made it hard though, as I could not cover all the moves. I had to dig hard a few times, and then I missed those four going away near the end. However, I am now in good position for the GC and will give it all in the next two days."

Tomorrow's stage will be 141 kilometres (10 laps) in Kenogami, including a short but steep 1 kilometre climb per lap.