Reports

Tirreno-Adriatico 2017: Geraint Thomas solos to stage two success

Welshman bounces back after Team Sky's disastrous team time trial

Geraint Thomas soloed to victory on stage two of Tirreno-Adriatico to prove his form as Team Sky bounced back from their disastrous team time trial in style.

Wheel failures decimated the British WorldTour team’s hopes on stage one, causing Gianni Moscon to crash with Thomas reporting Diego Rosa and Mikel Landa had suffered similar problems after hitting pot holes.

But the Welshman put the disappointment behind him as he attacked with four kilometres remaining of the 228km stage from Camaiore to Pomarance.

Geraint Thomas soloed to victory on stage two of Tirreno-Adriatico 2017 (pic – La Presse/RCS Sport)

Six riders formed the day’s break, with Davide Ballerini (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Alan Marangoni (Nippo-Vini Fantini) claiming mountains points as the gap grew to more than five minutes.

It was kept well under control, however, and the race was back together before the final categorised climb of the day, the Montecatini Val di Cecina, which Movistar’s Andrey Amador led the peloton over.

Movistar continued to lead the way as they headed for the final nine kilometre (uncategorised) climb to Pomerance, with fluctuating gradients promising exciting racing.

QuickStep Floors led the way onto the climb, with Zdenek Stybar setting the tempo, but it was an attack from team-mate Bob Jungels which ignited proceedings.

Jungels’ move, with five kilometres still to climb, failed to get him any purchase but Thomas followed the move with an attack of his own and this time four men got away.

Thomas, Jungels, race leader Damiano Caruso (BMC Racing) and Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) eked out a small advantage before Thomas kicked again and rid himself of his fellow escapees.

The Welshman’s advantage grew to 25 seconds with little more than 1.5km remaining, and remained at 19 seconds under the flamme rouge.

Thomas attacked with four kilometres remaining, ridding himself of his fellow escapees one kilometre later (pic – La Presse/RCS Sport)

Team Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin attacked from the front of the bunch, but Thomas had time to relish his victory – the 15th pro win of his career, and first on Italian soil.

Dumoulin claimed second place, while world champion Peter Sagan led the bunch over the line in third place just ahead of Olympic champion and new race leader Greg van Avermaet.

Britain’s Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) to show he too is in good shape ahead of the Giro d’Italia, but it’s fellow Brit and Rio 2016 Olympic team-mate Thomas whom the headlines belong to overnight.

Tirreno-Adriatico 2017: stage two – result

1) Geraint Thomas (GBR) – Team Sky – 5.51.44hrs
2) Tom Dumoulin (NED) – Team Sunweb +9”
3) Peter Sagan (SVK) – Bora-hansgrohe – ST
4) Greg van Avermaet (BEL) – BMC Racing
5) Francesco Gavazzi (ITA) – Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
6) Michal Kwiatkowski (POL) – Team Sky
7) Adam Yates (GBR) – Orica-Scott
8) Rohan Dennis (AUS) – BMC Racing
9) Nairo Quintana (COL) – Movistar
10) Simon Clarke (AUS) – Cannondale-Drapac

General classification

1) Greg van Avermaet (BEL) – BMC Racing – 6.15.14hrs
2) Rohan Dennis (AUS) – BMC Racing – ST
3) Tejay van Garderen (USA) – BMC Racing
4) Damiano Caruso (ITA) – BMC Racing
5) Niki Terpstra (NED) – QuickStep Floors +16”
6) Bob Jungels (LUX) – QuickStep Floors – ST
7) Nairo Quintana (COL) – Movistar +21”
8) Daniel Moreno (ESP) – Movistar – ST
9) Sebastien Reichenbach (SUI) – FDJ
10) Jonathan Castroviejo (ESP) – Movistar