Bahrain Victorious continued its strong momentum at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, where Vlad Van Mechelen sprinted to third place from the breakaway on Stage 2 (Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux – Le Puy-en-Velay, 237.3 km).
On the longest stage of the eight-day French race, the 22-year-old Belgian was part of the day’s decisive breakaway on a demanding route featuring five classified climbs and 3,685 metres of elevation gain. While less selective than some of the mountain stages to come, the parcours offered an ideal opportunity for the attackers to fight for the stage victory.
As expected, a group of ten riders, including Van Mechelen, established itself at the front during the opening climbs and built an advantage of up to six minutes. Behind, the team of race leader Alex Baudin, EF Education-EasyPost, controlled the gap to ensure the breakaway would not become a threat to the general classification.
The race came alive with 46 kilometres remaining when Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarché) attacked alongside Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ), who later attempted to continue solo. On the undulating terrain that followed, Van Mechelen remained active in a group of five riders from the original breakaway and successfully bridged across to the leaders. At the 27-kilometres-to-go mark, Van Mechelen found himself at the front of the race alongside Garcia Pierna (Movistar) and Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ), with the trio maintaining a small advantage for around six kilometres.
The decisive moment arrived on the final classified climb of the day, around ten kilometres from the finish, when Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility) accelerated clear of his companions and rode away to victory. Behind, Van Mechelen fought for the remaining podium places and crossed the line in third, 41 seconds behind the winner, with Henri-François Renard (Team Picnic PostNL) taking second place.
Van Mechelen reflected on his performance:
“It was a really hard day. To be honest, I regretted choosing this stage for the breakaway at some points because it was incredibly long and we spent almost the entire day out front. We had everything: heat, rain, cold, technical roads and a very strong group of riders in the breakaway.
In the final, I felt there were many riders with similar strengths. Maybe I wasn’t the strongest, or maybe the course was just a little too hard for me, so I quickly shifted my focus to surviving and getting the maximum out of the day. I think I came very close to doing that.
When Raul attacked and I followed, I thought that move could decide the race, but the others managed to come back, which was impressive. From that point it became a matter of racing smart and conserving energy.
Maybe second place was possible today, but I don’t think much more was. I’m happy with how my shape is progressing after coming back from the injury, and I hope this is only the beginning.”
Sports Director Michal Gołaś was pleased with the team’s performance:
“We are happy with Vlad’s third place. The objective was to have Matej Mohorič in the breakaway, but Vlad was our second option, and he showed his strength today.
The decisive break formed at a difficult moment in the race, and Vlad was there in the final. He followed the right moves and was fully in contention. On the last climb he missed a little bit, but overall he was in the game and delivered a very strong performance.
Behind, Matej and Santiago Buitrago finished safely in the reduced peloton without any issues, so overall it was a positive day for us.”
Tomorrow, Stage 3 features a 28.4-kilometre team time trial around Perreux, a stage that could provide the first major shake-up in the general classification.
