The second stage of the Rhône Alpes Isère Tour took place under a beautiful sun and a clear blue sky. Perfect weather for an animated stage, which was won by the rider who missed the victory in yersterday's stage for a few centimeters only.

The summary of the second stage of the Rhône Alpes Isère Tour : Charvieu-Chavagneux > Toussieu

After several attempts by some of the 118 riders who started this morning, the whole bunch was still together when they started the climb of the first difficulty of the day, the Côte de l'Etang de Ry. Julien Antomarchi (VC La Pomme Marseille) gets on top first, ahead of the FDJ duo Jérémy Roy and Thibaut Pinot.

In the descent, 3 riders are at the origin of a leading group which will contain up to 11 riders. Tony Hurel (Europcar), Vincent Canard (VC Caladois) and Romain Ramier (AVC Aix en Provence) quickly get company from Daniel Diaz (VC La Pomme Marseille) and Wilco Kelderman (Rabobank) and finally by 6 other riders as well. One of them was Perrig Quémeneur of Team Europcar and he wins the first sprint in Les Granges (Montagnieu).
The gap of these 11 leading riders never goes up 30 seconds and in the only first category climb of the day, the Côte d'Ordonnaz, this breakaway group is taken back. This climb leaves its traces in the peloton which falls apart in small groups.

A new leading group is formed following an attack by Frederik Wilmann (Joker Merida) who quickly gets company by yet another FDJ rider attacking in this stage, Thibaut Pinot. 5 other riders come complete this group a bit later: again Perrig Quémeneur (Team Europcar), Sébastien Joly (Saur-Sojasun), Guillaume Faucon (Big Mat-Auber 93), Aurélien Ribet (AVC Aix en Provence) and Kévin Pigaglio (Charvieu-Chavagneux IC).
Thibaut Pinot is the one who gets first on top of this climb of the first category and thus takes 10 points for the King of the Mountains classification.

At the top of the Col des Fosses, this same rider takes the second place, behind Frederik Wilmann (Joker Merida) and thus secures the purple King of the Mountains jersey which he takes over from his team mate Jérémy Roy.

At about 70 kilometers from the finish, the 7 leading riders decide to stop their effort and when they're taken back, Jérémy Roy (FDJ) attacks once again, just like he did yesterday. He thus takes the bonus seconds at the second sprint in Arcisse (Saint Chef), ahead of Christer Rake (Joker-Merida) and Justin Jules (VC La Pomme-Marseille).
About 20 kilometers further, 5 riders join Roy: Jérôme Cousin (Europcar), Christer Rake (Joker-Merida), Lasse Bochmann (Glud & Marstrand-LRØ), Thomas Vedel Kvist (Glud & Marstrand-LRØ) and Justin Jules (VC La Pomme-Marseille).

At the last sprint at the Parc de Chesne in Villefontaine Jérôme Cousin (Europcar) crosses the line first, ahead of Justin Jules (VC La Pomme-Marseille) and Christer Rake (Joker-Merida).

When the 6 leading riders are taken back, it's Gaëtan Bille (Wallonie-Bruxelles-Crédit Agricole)'s turn to attack, at 20 kilometers from the finish. He's joined by 7 other riders but this final leading group doesn't continue till the end either because the whole bunch gets back together at 10 kilometers from the finish.

Just after the flamme rouge of the last kilometer, the peloton turns at a 180° turn and at that time Gaëtan Bille attacks once more. This time it's the right one because the Walloon rider continues till the finish where he wins the stage in a final sprint. The rider of the Wallonie-Bruxelles-Crédit Agricole team of course saw this as a revenge on yesterday when he came 2 centimeters short of Sylvain Georges. Today, he wins the sprint ahead of Nicolas Baldo (Team Atlas-Personal) and a group which finishes at 3 seconds led by Laurent Beuret of the same team.

The classifications of the Rhône Alpes Isère Tour 2011 after the 2nd stage

The top 5 of the classification of the 2nd stage - Charvieux-Chavagneux > Toussieu

Here's the top 5 of today's stage, won in a sprint by Gaëtan Bille:

1/ Gaëtan Bille (Wallonie-Bruxelles-Crédit Agricole) - 3h48'07"
2/ Nicolas Baldo (Atlas Personal)
3/ Laurent Beuret (Atlas Personal) - +0'03"
4/ Damien Cigolotti (Charvieux-Chavagneux)
5/ Christian Poos (Team Differdange-Magic-Sportfood.de)

The general classification

Here's the top 5 of the general classification after the 2nd stage, where Gaëtan Bille is leading as well:

1/ Gaëtan Bille (Wallonie-Bruxelles-Crédit Agricole) - 7h38'48"
2/ Sylvain Georges (BigMat-Auber 93) - +0'09"
3/ Nicolas Baldo (Team Atlas Personal) - +0'15"
4/ Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) - +0'17"
5/ Justin Jules (VC La Pomme-Marseille) - +0'21"

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Cycling general (except Tour de France) | Rhône Alpes Isère Tour

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