Milan-San Remo winner Gerald Ciolek of Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung was beaten into second place by South African Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) in a photo-finish. The result for Africa’s first Professional Continental team comes after Ciolek’s fourth place on the opening stage.
“I am of course very happy with second place on this extremely difficult stage. Because of my cold, I couldn't prepare myself right, but it is going better than I expected,“ said a satisfied Ciolek. “In the end we really had to work hard in order to get back to the head of the field. So at the finale I was missing a little bit of strength. Tomorrow [today] we will attack again.“
“Gerald Ciolek put in a really great performance. As a sprinter, to come over four difficult climbs and then be second in the sprint is simply fantastic,“ said sports director Jens Zemke. “In the finale it didn't look good for us at first. There were 15 men up front with a 30 second gap and we only had Gerald and Sergio Pardilla in the chase group, but in the end it worked out well for us and a large group came together to the finish.“
Today's third stage runs 196.8 kilometers from Viechtach to Kelheim. Although the profile of the stage resembles a saw blade, it is expected to end again in a mass sprint.
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