Frank Schleck easily defends his yellow jersey ahead of decisive afternoon time trial
Simon Geschke of the Skil-Shimano team sprinted to his first professional win in stage two of the Critérium International. The German beat Murilo Fisher (Garmin-Cervélo) and Laurent Mangel (Saur-Sojasun) on the uphill drag to the finish in Porto Vecchio. The break of the day was reeled in four kilometers from the finish.
Geschke was quickly surrounded by his teammates at the Skil-Shimano team camper. “The finishing straight went up a little bit, which is what is best for me,” he told VeloNation. “Yesterday it went uphill a little too long,” he said with a grin on his face. “Today everything went perfect and the team did it superbly.”
Skil-Shimano had set up Geschke perfectly to hold off the challenges by Fisher and Mangel. “I still had two guys with me after the last corner.” The last corner was far from the finish, as the finish line was visible from the flamme rouge indicating the last kilometer.
Geschke then received congratulations from Jens Voigt, who was very happy for his compatriot. “That was awesome,” Voigt said to Geschke. “That was a nice, crisp uphill at the end.” Voigt then asked if Geschke had good positioning or good legs. Geschke modestly pointed out his two helping teammates. “They did all the work,” Geschke said. “So I had to go hard only the last two hundred meters.” Voigt then waved good-bye. “Good job guys,” he said as he pedaled away.
The whole race went perfectly for Skil-Shimano, with a break dominating the short but fast stage. Five men clipped away four kilometres into the 75 kilometre leg around Porto Vecchio. Yukihiro Doi was there for the Dutch team, and was joined by Fabrice Jandesboz (Saur-Sojasun), Rémy di Gregorio (Astana), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Renaud Dion (Bretagne – Schuller).
They were 50 seconds clear when Doi beat Di Gregorio and Martinez to the summit of the Cote de Pagliaggiolo, 23 kilometres in, and 42 seconds ahead at the intermediate sprint which came eleven clicks later. Doi was again quickest here, edging out Jeandesboz and Di Gregorio.
The Garmin-Cervélo team then set about bringing the move back and with ten kilometres to go, the gap was a more manageable 20 seconds.
Jeandesboz realised the situation was serious for the break and he jumped away eight kilometres from the line. He dug deep and thrashed the pedals around, but was caught three kilometres from the line. Things then played out perfectly for Geschke, who won the sprint in the streets of Porto Vecchio.
“We had someone in the breakaway…this was good because we thought maybe a small group could actually make it,” he said. “It was a really good day.”
Schleck ready to take title
Frank Schleck was cautiously optimistic about taking the title in the afternoon time trial. “I have 20 seconds and that should be enough,” he toldVeloNation at the end of a fast stage. “This went perfectly, but when you have a strong team that pays attention it is easy.” The Leopard Trek team made sure no GC danger man was able to make any moves.
The team had been really strong the previous day and showed what it is capable of. Like others, Schleck was not too worried with not having too many wins in the early part of the season. “We have always said we have a plan and we follow through on that.”
Frank Schleck will be the last rider to roll off the start ramp in Porto Vecchio at 15:53, and some nine minutes later he will know if he is the overall winner of the 2011 Critérium International.