Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) surged to a thundering victory on stage 2 of the Tour de Hongrie, with a long-range sprint to take him away from a group that had been formed by crosswinds in a thrilling finale to the stage.
The Frenchman made the first echelon in the wind with 25km to go, ripped up the group on a small climb with 17km to go, and sprinted away from it from over 500 metres out.
Alexis Renard (Cofidis) was second across the line a couple of seconds later, with Max Kanter (XDS Astana) alongside him in third. The peloton, which reformed on the run-in and looked like it might catch the leading group, finished right on the tails of the front-runners and would have swallowed them up a couple of hundred metres further on.
Save for a deer skidding across the road, it had been a quiet stage at the Tour de Hongrie, on a 205.8km route from Szarvas to Paks, but the expected bunch sprint finish did not materialise.
With 25km to go, the race turned onto an exposed section of road, and with a decent breeze hitting from the left, Cofidis lit the touch paper. UAE Team Emirates got involved and suddenly there were gaps and soon there were echelons.
There were around 30 riders in the front group, with race leader Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) there, while Jayco-AlUla were the team most prominently working in the second echelon, having missed the boat.
With 17km to go, Cosnefroy used his puncheur skills to attack on the final short climb, taking three riders with him and tempting two more to come across. Bahrain Victorious, though, closed the gap, allowing Phil Bauhaus to jump across as the group swelled to 12.
Things looked to be swinging back the other way on the run-in, when the group suddenly hesitated with 6km to go. Behind, the bunch led by Jayco-AlUla had caught the remnants of the first echelon to form one proper peloton, and they were only six seconds behind. But they too hesitated and allowed the gap to edge back out.
Cosnefroy’s teammate Rui Oliveira then took it upon himself to be the day’s MVP. The Portuguese rider initially went clear with an Astana rider but, as the group reformed, he took charge on the front and buried himself to keep the move going. He even went clear again, this time on his own, as the second rider in line let the wheel go.
When he was rejoined, he gave it one last turn on the front to take the group inside the final kilometer, before Cosnefroy went surging out in front with his race-winning attack.
The Frenchman, going from well over 500 metres out, quickly gained a decisive gap. On the drag to the finish, he managed to maintain his power all the way to the line, celebrating his second win of the season after the recent GP de Morbihan.
Cosnefroy also moved into the overall lead of the race thanks to bonus seconds, with Kristian Egholm (Lidl-Trek) second overall at two seconds and stage 1 winner Merlier third at four seconds.
Results
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