Stage 2, San Francisco to Santa Cruz for 117 miles. It was cool and cloudy (of course) in San Francisco but the clouds gave way around one o’clock and made for a beautiful stage along the California coast.
At the start of Stage 2, after leaving the city of San Francisco, riders headed toward the coast and the first sprint of the day in Pacifica, where Howard, Maarten Tjallingii (NED) of Rabobank Cycling Team and Bradley White (USA) of UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team were the first three to cross the line. Shortly thereafter, six racers, including White; Jeremy Vennell (NZL) of Bissell Pro Cycling; Michael Creed (USA) of Team Optum Powered by Kelly Benefit Strategies; Lloyd Mondory (FRA) of AG2R La Mondiale; Juan Pablo Suarez (COL) of Colombia-Coldeportes; and Alexandre Geniez (FRA) of Team Argos-Shimano established a breakaway. This breakaway swept the second sprint points with White, Vennell and Mondory crossing in that order.
Fifty miles into the race, the break had a comfortable lead of nine minutes and 45 seconds ahead of the peloton. As the breakaway group closed in on Bonny Doon and the first King of the Mountain (KOM) climb of the day, the gap was narrowed to five minutes and 50 seconds. As the cyclists began to climb, Garmin-Barracuda worked hard at the front of the peloton for their leader Tom Danielson (USA). After a few attacks, only three riders were left in the break – White, Vennell and Geniez – with a lead of four minutes and 20 seconds. Sitting in and out of the saddle while climbing, Geniez went out in front of the break alone.
While on the climb, a crash occurred, taking down several riders, including Sagan; George Hincapie (USA) of BMC Racing Team; Laurens Ten Dam (NED) of Rabobank Cycling Team; Andres Diaz Corrales (COL) of Exergy; and Josh Atkins (NZL) of the Bontrager Livestrong Team. Sagan showed what he is made of by getting up quickly from the crash, brushing himself off and regaining contact with the peloton. While this was happening, Geniez continued to ride alone at the front with a lead of four minutes and 55 seconds ahead of the group, and ultimately claimed top KOM points on Empire Grade. He was followed by David Boily (CAN) of Spidertech Powered by C10. Just before the Bear Creek climb, Vennell and White were absorbed by the peloton, leaving Geniez alone in front. But, with just 35km to go, Geniez was caught by the peloton, which was being led by UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team.
The finish was a big sprint won by Slovakian Peter Sagan of Liquigas who also won yesterday in Santa Rosa. Ironically, the punctured tire was also the second flat of the race in as many days for the 22-year-old Sagan who maintained his overall lead over Australia’s Heinrich Haussler of the Garmin-Barracuda team after the second stage of America’s greatest professional cycling race. Leigh Howard (AUS) of Orica-GreenEDGE, who placed third during Stage 2, remained in third place overall.
“I don’t know, maybe it takes a natural disaster,” said Sagan, when asked what it would take to stop his winning ways, noting he suffered an untimely punctured tire three miles from the finish yesterday and still won Stage 1. “I am feeling good. I will see tomorrow (to make it three straight wins),” he continued.
