Europcar’s Yohann Gène won the second stage of the Route du Sud in a sprint after the last attackers were caught with only 400 m to go.

On today’s 182,8 km stage around Villecomtal-sur-Arros, Steven Caethoven (Accent Jobs-Wanty) and Florent Barle (Cofidis) broke away early and built a 6-minute lead. Eventually the La Pomme Marseille team of GC leader Yannick Martinez took control and brought the gap down to 1:45 minutes with 34 km to go. Jean-Marc Bideau (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) and David Lelay (Sojasun) took off in pursuit of the leaders, while Barle left Caethoven behind and continued on his own.

When Caethoven, Bideau and Lelay were caught by the peloton with 21 km to go, Barle was still a minute ahead. A group of 16 riders attacked, and Barle had to give in – but this move was neutralized quickly, too.

On the gradual ascent to the Côte des Argounès several riders attacked: Danail Petrov (Caja Rural), Italian champion Franco Pellizotti (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela), Ruben Plaza (Movistar), Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale) and Arnaud Courteille (FDJ) – but after the descent to the 3 km mark, everything was together.

Voeckler and Gadret tried one more time with Sojasun’s Christophe Laborie, and they had a six-second advantage under the flamme rouge. But ultimately the bunch was too strong, swallowing the trio only 400 m from the line. Voeckler’s teammate Yohann Gène made up for that by winning the sprint ahead of Chris Sutton (Sky Procycling) and Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale). This was the 10th professional victory for the rider from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, but as he has only been successful in African and Asian races until now it’s his first win in Europe.

Yannick Martinez remains the overall leader, one second ahead of Gène due to a bonus second he picked up in an intermediate sprint. However, it is very doubtful that he will defend the coral-red jersey on tomorrow’s queen stage over three Pyrénées passes, including the Port de Balès.

Result:

1. Yohann Gène (Europcar) 4:38:00

2. Chris Sutton (Sky Procycling)

3. Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale)

4. Yannick Martinez (La Pomme Marseille)

5. Anthony Roux (FDJ)

6. Geoffroy Lequatre (Bretagne-Séché Environnement)

7. Giairo Ermeti (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela)

8. Francisco Ventoso (Movistar)

9. Sebastian Baldauf (NSP-Ghost)

10. Diego Rosa (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela)

General classification:

1. Yannick Martinez (La Pomme Marseille) 9:57:33

2. Yohann Gène (Europcar) 0:01

3. Chris Sutton (Sky Procycling) 0:05

4. Anthony Roux (FDJ)

5. Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale) 0:07

6. Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) 0:08

7. Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela)

8. Romain Hardy (Cofidis)

9. Davide Malacarne (Europcar) 0:09

10. Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille) 0:10