CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious continued their strong momentum at the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes yesterday, with Vlad Van Mechelen sprinting to third place from the breakaway on the 237.3-kilometre second stage.
On the longest leg 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 10 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 of EF Education-EasyPost controlled the gap to ensure the breakaway would not become a threat to the general classification (GC).
The race came alive with 46km remaining. 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 final 27km mark, Van Mechelen found himself at the front of the race alongside Garcia Pierna of Movistar and Braz Afonso of Groupama-FDJ, with the trio maintaining a small advantage for around six km.
The decisive moment arrived on the final classified climb of the day, around 10km from the finish, when Anthon Charmig of 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-Haquin of Team Picnic PostNL taking second place.
“It was a really hard day,” said Van Mechelen. “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.
“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 Gołas expressed his delight with the team’s performance. “We are happy with Vlad’s third place,” said Golas. “The objective was to have Matej Mohoric 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.”
The race’s third stage today features a 28.4-kilometre team time trial, which could provide the first major shake-up in the GC.
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