The Dutchman Casper van Uden won in the sprint on Saturday at the end of the 2nd stage of the Tour de l’Avenir, disputed over 153 km between Benet (Vendée) and Civray (Vienne). The Norwegian Soren Warenskjold, who deceived the sprinters on Friday to win the first stage, retains the yellow jersey with a 1 second lead.
This new flat stage was animated by a long breakaway of three riders – Darren Rafferty (Ireland), Félix Stehli (Switzerland) and Carson Miles (Canada) – and a last attempt by the Italian Lorenzo Milesi. But the peloton, led at the end of the course by the Dutch riders, proved intractable and gradually swallowed everyone up to ensure a sprint finish.
All in power, Van Uden won ahead of the Dane Sebastian Changizi and the Briton Samuel Watson, already 2nd and 3rd on Friday. “It’s a team victory. The guys had already worked so hard yesterday but we had made a few mistakes. Today, they did it again, it’s crazy!“, rejoiced Van Uden, 21 years old. “A stage victory was one of my goals, and to see them help me like that… We race in different teams, usually we are opponents but here we worked so well together, it’s really special“, he added.
On Sunday, another slightly more rugged plain stage could give adventurers or sprinters a chance again, at the end of a 154 km course between Civray and La Trimouille (Vienne). Open to hopeful riders aged 23 and under, under national or regional amateur banners, the Tour de l’Avenir, which will end on August 28 in the Alps, is considered the small Tour de France for young people and serves as a springboard to the professional world.