Stage 2 - Tour de Yorkshire
Stage 2 of Tour de Yorkshire was a full-on day of racing, and it was back into hillier and more technical terrain.
After the break stuck yesterday, there was a major battle to get off the front and it took around 50-60 kilometers before things settled down.
The race was downright chaotic and we were on rollercoaster roads when we lost my roomie at this race, Tom Bohli, to a crash. He got tangled up with a few riders who overcooked a corner while going on the attack.
Considering we were already starting one-man down, we immediately felt the loss of Tom. It meant the rest of us BMC Racing Team had to step up and spend a little more energy than was ideal.
Fortunately, Paddy Bevin was up there with a key early move and then Nathan Van Hooydonck contributed to the pace making once the break went.
Things heated up in the final 25 km and we took the lead for the final approach into the uphill finish. I felt strong, but when the best guys including Greg, made an explosive acceleration with around 700 meters to go, I couldn’t muster much more than a hard steady pace. Greg fought hard for the win and came up just a bit short with a nice second place, while I just snuck into the top 10.
We have two unpredictable stages to come, especially Sunday’s final stage, which packs a massive amount of total climbing. We plan to stay heads up and switched on hoping to benefit from our collective depth, even with our reduced team.