Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) won stage 2 at the Boucles de la Mayenne with a solo attack 8.5km from the line in Villaines-la-Juhel.
From the trio of chasers finishing 17 seconds behind, Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) finished second ahead of Alexadre Delettre (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93) leaving Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) in fourth.
Bettiol made his move with with 8.5km remaining to the finish, across the fourth and final climb of Côte des Égoutelles, and added a second victory for the season.
The Italian took over the GC lead, with a 23-second lead over Cosnefroy. Ale Zingle (Cofidis) was third, another five seconds back.
“I'm really proud of my teammates. We believed since this morning that today could be our stage. My teammates were really, really amazing. We stayed calm,” Bettiol said in a team press release.
“Today was a really difficult stage, really hard and difficult to control. But, we played it smart and waited till the last climb to attack.
“Our goal was to win a stage here, because we have a really strong team and today we did. Now, we are here. We have the jersey. We're building up to the Tour de France and the Grand Depart in Florence. That is my focus. Now I'm just very happy. I hope to pay all these guys back.”
How it unfolded
The first group of riders to set off in Le Ham across the early kilometres of the hilly 208.8km stage to Villaines-la-Juhe, which included Jan Maas (Jayco AlUla), Alex Martín (Polti Kometa), Emmanuel Morin (VRR) and Artus Jaladeau (UCN). With 185 to go, Owsian Lukasz (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Jonathan Couanon (Nice Métropole Côte d’Azur) tagged along and the six were set for a full day. Once the six hit stride, they had a 3:45 gap with 180km to go.
The race settled into a steady rhythm as the breakaway held their lead across the first three categorised climbs. Once at the mid-point of the constant ups and downs, the route went up a shorter section of the Côte des Égoutelles (1.6km at 6.5%) land headed to finish circuits.
The circuits began with EF Education-EasyPost taking charge at the front, accelerating through the first four of five laps to wear down their rivals. Soon the advantage of the six leaders had faded from 2:16 to just 35 seconds in the last 25km.
The final four passes of Côte des Égoutelles covered 2.3km at 5.7%, the full length of the climb, and Morin rolled backwards and dropped from the front with 50km to go.
On the penultimate circuit, attacks by three riders - Iván Romeo (Movistar), Anders Foldager (Jayco AlUla) and Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies) - were rewarded by catching on to the leaders.
Hearing the bell ring for the final 21km, five riders remained at the front, Maas having dropped back to the peloton. The carrot dangling ahead was bonus points for the final ascent of the Égoutelles, and the chase behind was only 20 seconds back once the breakaway riders hit the bottom of the final ascent.
Just before the crest of the Égoutelles, Romeo was the only man left standing at the front from the break and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) made the pass on a solo attack with 8.5km remaining to the finish.
Counter-attacks followed on the descent by Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and then Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) and Alexandre Delettre (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93). But Bettiol sailed away and the trio were left to fight for the final bottom steps of the podium.
“We showed the other teams that we had the attitude to control the race. I’m proud to pay all their job back with this victory,” Bettiol said at the finish.
Results
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