The second day at the Circuit la Sarthe saw a fast race in the morning, with a successful break taking home the win, before the time trial specialists tok over in the afternoon. Anthony Roux (FDJ) and Adriano Malori were the winners of the day, with the latter one taking over the GC lead. Steve Cummings put in a solid performance in the TT, that saw him finishing 7th.

The morning stage covered 87 kilometers from Varades to Angers. It saw Roux and his two breakaway companions outsmarting the peloton, as they held off Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and the other sprinters. The gap between the group and the peloton had never really grown but proofed enough in the end.

Natnael Berhane was the placed finisher of MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung, who don’t have a sprinter at the race.

The TT in the afternoon was dominated by Movistar duo Malori and Alex Dowsett, who managed to go first and second on the stage. The Italian covered the 6.8 kilometer course in Angers with an average of more the 51 km/h. In the end he was 9 seconds faster than his teammate. Steve Cummings powered his way to 7th.

Thanks to this effort Cummings moved up to 9th in the overall, just 21 seconds down on the new race leader Malori.

"The morning stage was marked by a trio that took home the win as well," sports director Jens Zemke said. "They kept a small lead throughout the stage but managed to really put the power down in the end. We rode well in the peloton, and Natnael managed to finish 19th in the sprint.

"In the afternoon Johan [van Zyl] rode a strong time trial that saw him finishing 16th, which is a very good result for our young South African. Steve managed to take 7th place and sits now 9th in the overall. With Jacques [van Rensburg] still wearing the KOM jersey we can look forward to the next stages. Tomorrow’s queen stage features a tough final and we will try to leave our mark."