Longest stage of the race ends in bunch sprint
For the second day in a row, a stage of the Tour of Bavaria ended in a sprint and this time it was Robert Wagner (Skil Shimano) who prevailed. After 200km, Australian Leigh Howard (HTC Columbia) was second once again. Yesterday Howard was disappointed, but today his second miss on a stage win was at least rewarded with the race lead. He is ahead of Ruben Perez by two seconds. It was Wagner’ seventh win of the season. Steffen Radochla finished third in the dash to the line.
The 20 year-old Howard had no ambitions in the general classification. “I wasn’t expecting to take the yellow jersey, but this is a good bonus and it’s great to be up on the podium,” he said. “The whole team performed brilliantly. They all came to the front with about 15 kilometers to go, and held a medium pace at first, before turning it up towards the end.”
This strategy worked almost to perfection, but Wagner edged out Howard. “It was quite a straight run-in and that suited me,” Howard said. “It’s just a shame I didn’t quite get the win. Still, tomorrow’s another possibility. It’s hilly but it still could end up being another bunch sprint, and Sunday is the flattest stage of them all.”
There was a big crash near the finish, with two riders from HTC-Columbia involved. Neither of them suffered major injuries, but it derailed the sprint train a bit. “Peter Velits hurt his hand and Maxime Monfort injured his knee, but they should be ok to start tomorrow,” said sports director Jan Schaffrath.
Friday’s stage three goes from Bayreuth to Hersbruck over 177km and it is a very hilly stage, with almost no flat kilometers to speak of.