Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) won stage 2 of Tour de l’Ain with a final kick across the 150 metres and distance breakaway partner Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Prodhomme and Uijtdebroeks united in a serious pursuit and catch of another pair of breakaway riders on the final categorised climb with 25km to race.
The final 12km of the 153.1km route led into the Lèlex ski area to the Monts Jura resort, and Prodhomme saved enough to out-sprint Uijtdebroeks, and with the win, take the GC lead in the three-day stage race.
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From a seven-rider chase group, Jamie Meehan (Cofidis) narrowly took third place in front of Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike), finishing 53 seconds back.
Headed to the final day of racing on Friday, Prodhomme leads Uijtedbroeks by just two seconds in the overall standings, with Tulett tied with a group of six riders in third overall, holding the same time gap as the stage finish, 53 seconds.
The second day of racing featured four categorised climbs across 153.1km from Saint-Vulbas deep into the Jura Mountains at Lélex Monts-Jura, a total of 3,211 metres of elevation gain.
Sergio Samitier (Cofidis), Thomas Champion (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93), Gianluca Brambilla (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Antoine Berlin (Bike Aid) and Jaakko Hänninen (Nice Métropole Côte d’Azur) formed a lead group once across the opening pair of climbs – category 3 Côte d’Ambronay and category 2 Col de Montgriffon.
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As the race approached the halfway point, pushing up an uncategorised climb, Berlin was the first to lose the wheels of his fellow breakaway riders. Once on the ascent of Côte de Giron (8km at 6%) with under 50km to go, two more dropped away, and Samitier and Brambilla carried on at the front, now with a 2:25 advantage ahead of the peloton.
By the time the breakaway duo began climbing the fourth and final categorised ascent, Col de Menthières (9.1km at 6.3%), the peloton had been reduced to less than 30 riders.
Uijtdebroeks struck first in the chase with company by Prodhomme, sitting sixth overall. As the two surged up the second half of the climb, Samitier dropped away, and then Brambilla could not match the pace when the new leaders marched on with 25km to go.
Once across the Menthières, Prodhomme and Uijtdebroeks held a 1:18 advantage on the descent over a select group of chasers, which included Ben Tullet (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Brambilla, who were 10th and 12th, respectively, on GC, all with the same time.
The final 4km into Lélex Monts-Jura was all uphill, and Prodhomme proved best in the two-man sprint.
Results
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