After the demise of Vacansoleil, Sergey Lagutin had to step down to pro continental level with Rusvelo and the former Uzbekh champion hasn't been much in the spotlight in the first part of the year. Yesterday he proved his return to form when he finished second behind Matti Breschel in the second stage of the Tour de Luxembourg.

RusVelo rider Sergey Lagutin came in second in stage two of 2.HC Skoda-Tour de Luxembourg. The experienced Russian, 2003 U-23 World champion, followed the multiple World’s medal winner Matti Breschel (Tinkoff – Saxo) to the line, which put him up to 9th in the general standings, 28 seconds behind the race leader Jean-Pierre Drucker.

“It was an up and down stage that suited the characteristics of Ilnur Zakarin," RusVelo DS Sergey Ivanov said. "We wanted to see him in a breakaway and he made the selection. The escape was not strong enough to stay away until the end but it was of great help to the team, as we didn’t have to chase and could think about getting ready for the finish.

"Unfortunately for Sergey Lagutin, it took a previous experience with the final uphill to map out your efforts, so the flatter part turned out longer than expected. For a rider of hiss class missing a chance for the top of the podium is a definite disappointment, but he is determined to go on fighting in the coming two days, he is happy with his legs. I remember some climbs of those to come, I did them as a rider not so long ago, and they live plenty of room for selection, I think everything is still to race for”.