June 13/24 18:22 pm - Foley Wins Stage 2 at Tour de Beauce

Posted by Editoress on 06/13/24
 

Michael Foley (Toronto Hustle), a mainstay of the Canadian track endurance program, put together the strongest road result of his career on Thursday with a win in Stage 2 of the Tour de Beauce. Foley surged to the front on the final 200 metre climb to hold off Sean Christian (Aevolo) and Stefan Verhoeff (Universe Cycling) for the victory. Tyler Stites (Echelon Project) continues to hold onto both the Yellow Jersey and the White (Points) Jersey after finishing 18th, while Arthur Liardet (N'SIDE) remains in the Climbers Jersey. The Red Jersey for Best Young Rider was the only one to switch riders, with Christian taking it over from Gregory Zapata (Equipe du Quebec).

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The 164 kilometre stage began and ended in a familiar location for Beauce - Saint-Odilon-de-Cranbourne. Riders completed one long circuit of rolling climbs and significant wind. As in Stage 1, it took a long time for a break to get established, with the pace very high. Finally, after 50 kilometres, the first group to gain more than a few seconds was established - Hugo Lutz-Atkinson and William Goodfellow (EuroCyclingTrips - Yoeleo), Alexis Cartier (360 Agency Cycle) and Manu Moore (TaG Cycling). This group went more than 30 seconds clear, as Stites' team set tempo behind.

Moore was dropped first, and then Lutz-Atkinson on the second KoM, as his teammate went for maximum points. Cartier rejoined Goodfellow over the top, and the duo took the lead to nearly two minutes. However, inevitably, the chase began in the peloton and the gap shrunk to 25 seconds with 44 kilometres to go. Goodfellow came off the wheel of Cartier, who continued to power along into the headwind. He was joined briefly by Logan O'Krafka, who also dropped back to the peloton. Remarkably, Cartier continued to plug along solo until he was finally reeled in with 23 kilometres to go, having spent approximately 90 kilometres at the front.

The bunch splintered over the final KoM with ten kilometres to go, but 60 riders remained in the front group to contest the sprint. Foley launched to the right, Christian to the left and Verhoeff right up the middle. The Canadian was level with Christian at 30 metres to go, but as the Aevolo rider faded, Foley kept the power on to win by almost a bike length.

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