Yesterday John Degenkolb won the bunch sprint on the first stage of the Etoile de Besseges but the result was only good enough for 7th as the early break stayed away to the finish. Today it was another near-miss for the German who was beaten by Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) in the sprint, leading the team to regret a mechanical that may have cost them the win.

John Degenkolb sprinted to second place on stage two of the Étoile de Bessèges on what was a very successful day of racing for Team Giant-Shimano. He was just beaten to the line by Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) after 149km of racing, on the day that Marcel Kittel won at the Dubai Tour and Kirsten Wild won the team’s third stage of the Ladies Tour of Qatar.

The Bessèges stage saw five riders spend most of the day out in front of the peloton but unlike yesterday they were kept in close check as everyone had their eyes on a bunch sprint to the line. Team Giant-Shimano worked towards this scenario, and set Degenkolb up in a good position at the finish for him to battle for the win in the final 250m but he lost out by just millimetres.

“The boys did a good job for John today but Bouhanni was fast at the finish and hard to beat today," coach Christian Guiberteau said. “The break was easier to control today and we rode well to keep the gap in check and then close the gap on the final lap. Unfortunately Roy Curvers had a mechanical and had to change bikes in the final 8km meaning that he wasn’t there to help in the run-in.

“The change of plan could have lost us the win but that is racing. They can be happy with their teamwork today and tomorrow is another day.”

Swede Tobias Ludvigsson took over the role of lead-out man after Curvers' mechanical.

"I did the sprint for John Degenkolb today," he told Directvelo. "It was Roy Curvers' job but he punctured in the final kilometres. That disrupted our plans. We are obviously disappointed. We worked all day so you cannot be satisfied with 2nd place. I think that John is the fastest rider in the race. We cannot afford to miss out every day. We will try again tomorrow."
 

Tomorrow's third stage is hillier but has a flat finish and should end in some kind of sprint.