Luis León Sánchez moves into the lead with second-place time bonus
Jérôme Baugnies took the first ever victory for new team Wanty-Groupe Gobert, and the biggest of his own career so far, as he took the second stage of the Tropical Amissa Bongo, between Awoua and Oyem, in the west African republic of Gabon. The 26-year-old Belgian beat stage one winner Luis León Sánchez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) to the line at the end of the 120km stage, which included eight laps of a local finishing circuit, with Eritrean Natnael Berhane (Europcar) in third place.
Time bonuses on the line meant that Sánchez took over the race leader’s yellow jersey from compatriot Egoitz Garcia (Cofidis).
“I’m so happy!” exclaimed Baugnies. “Not only for myself but for the whole team. We have begun. The beating of Luis León Sánchez is not something given to everyone.
“[The local circuits] they were pretty heavy,” Baugnies added. “But I stayed calm. At the foot of the last climb, I was sitting in the first row. Attacks kept coming, but it still finished in a sprint. Where I knew I was going not be far away.
“I found myself in a very enthusiastic team with a lot of ambition,” Baugnies said of the new Wanty-Groupe Gobert team. “Where I can learn a lot from guys like [Björn] Leukemans, [Nico] Sijmens and [Frederik] Veuchelen.”
After an early attempted escape from Luis Mas (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Gasore Hategeka (Rwanda), a five man break got away after nine kilometres. The group was made up of Faycal Hamza (VC Sovac), Songezo Jim (MTN-Qhubeka), Meron Teshome (Eritrea), Omar Fraile (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Mouhcine Lahsaini (Morocco), and they managed to get 3’50” at the stage’s halfway point.
A counterattack of Uwizeyimana, Nsengiyumva, Simo Sando, Yarbanga, Kabre, Ekobena managed to fight its way across to the break by the 78km point. With Jean-Bosco Nsengiyumva and Bonaventure Uwizeyimana (both Rwanda), Isaaka Kabre and Salifou Yarbanga (Burkina Faso) and Dieunedort Simo Sando (Cameroon) taking the lead group up to ten.
Unhappy with the new company, however, Jim, Teshome, Hamza and Fraile managed to drop the others ten kilometres later but, with 30km to go, the quartet was just one minute ahead of the peloton. Jim and Fraile then broke away inside the final 15km, but they were eventually caught by the bunch with just four kilometres to go.
Result stage 2
1. Jérôme Baugnies (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
2. Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
3. Natnael Berhane (Eri) Team Europcar
4. Roy Jans (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
5. Meron Amanuel (Eri) Eritrea
6. Giovanni Bernadeau (Fra) Team Europcar
7. Salah Eddine Mraouni (Mar) Morocco
8. Metkel Eyob (Eri) Eritrea
9. Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis
10. Reda Aadel (Mar) Morocco
Standings after stage 2
1. Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
2. Egoitz Garcia (Spa) Cofidis @ 5s
3. Natnael Berhane (Eri) Team Europcar @ 8s
4. Linus Gerdemann (Ger) MTN-Qhubeka @ 16s
5. Grégory Habeaux (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
6. Fabrice Jeandesboz (Fra) Team Europcar @ 20s
7. Jérôme Baugnies (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert @ 53s
8. Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis @ 1’02”
9. Giovanni Bernadeau (Fra) Team Europcar @ 3’02”
10. Salah Eddine Mraouni (Mar) Morocco