Geraint Thomas moves to second overall at Tour de Suisse as Kristijan Durasek takes stage
Thomas finished in the lead group with race leader Tom Dumoulin to move to second overall, but was unable to take stage win after Durasek's late attack
Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) moved into second place on GC at the 2015 Tour de Suisse, after attacking on the final climb of the medium mountains of stage two to finish in a lead group of riders, including race leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin).
Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida) took advantage of the toing-and-froing between the GC hopefuls, including Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Daniel Moreno (Katusha) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), as well as Thomas, to attack with 800m to go and take his first WorldTour victory.
The pair of Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge) and Luka Pibernik (Lampre-Merida), who had spent the day in a break of four before it whittled down to two, were caught with around 15km to and prompted attacks from the overall contenders on the Michaelskreuz climb, which the peloton had to tackle twice.
Julian Arredondo (Trek Factory Racing) was the first to have a go, before Thomas made a move which was tracked by Fuglsang. Dumoulin chased on behind in a second group.
No-one was able to make a significant gap however, with the rest of the peloton splintered along the climb behind them, with Thomas making another attempt at a move on the descent towards the run to the finish.
The Briton wasn't allowed to get away though, and before long all the leaders including Dumoulin were back together. No-one seemed willing to take the initiative as they came towards the finish, but Croation Durasek saw his opportunity and rode solo, with no response, to take an impressive stage victory.
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Geraint Thomas attacked towards the end of stage two of the Tour de Suisse (Watson)
(Image credit: Watson)
Monday's stage three will see the riders take on a 117km route which kicks off with an Hors Catégorie climb as well as another category three towards the finish.
Result
Tour de Suisse 2015 stage two: Risch-Rotkreuz – Risch-Rotkreuz, 161.1km
1. Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida, in 3-36-52
2. Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha, at 4 seconds
3. Julian Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing
4. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ
5. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
6. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha
7. Miguel Angel Lopez (Esp) Astana
8. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana
9. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, all same time
10. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, at 14 seconds
Tom Dumoulin on the Stage two of the 2015 Tour de Suisse
(Image credit: Watson)
Overall classification after stage two
1. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, in 3-42-37
2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, at 7 seconds
3. Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha, at 11 seconds
4. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 14 seconds
5. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, at 15 seconds
6. Steve Morabito (Sui) FDJ, st
7. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ, at 16 seconds
8. Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida at 18 seconds
9. Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing, at 19 seconds
10. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha, st
Interview with Geraint Thomas
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Richard is digital editor of Cycling Weekly. Joining the team in 2013, Richard became editor of the website in 2014 and coordinates site content and strategy, leading the news team in coverage of the world's biggest races and working with the tech editor to deliver comprehensive buying guides, reviews, and the latest product news.
An occasional racer, Richard spends most of his time preparing for long-distance touring rides these days, or getting out to the Surrey Hills on the weekend on his Specialized Tarmac SL6 (with an obligatory pub stop of course).
