For 150 kilometres, a breakaway group was at the head of the peloton on the 2nd stage from Fribourg to Salvan-Les Marecottes. Even on the final climb, riders managed to keep the peloton at bay. In the end, a group of three decided the day's victory among themselves. Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) had the best legs on the uphill finish and sprinted to victory, Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) had to settle for second place as on the previous day and Luke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla) had no chance in the final metres - he finished third. The German Florian Lipowitz was distanced by the three riders beforehand, but finished just ahead of the peloton and took fourth place.
Nys has the best punch
Luke Plapp started 300 metres before the finish and tested the freshness of his two rivals. However, the Australian had to let go on the final left-hand bend. He then had to watch as Vendrame and Nys decided the victory between themselves. The Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider was in the leader's position and riding at the limit, but he was unable to prevent the Belgian's counter-attack. Nys passed Vendrame with powerful kicks, who was unable to respond. It is the 21-year-old's first victory at World Tour level and he is also the new leader in the overall standings. There were no clear gaps between the favourites for the overall victory of the tour, they finished 16 seconds behind the day's winner. The fourth stage will probably decide the battle for the classification win.
"I didn't really know what to expect today because it was the first time in my career that I was in an early breakaway. Many thanks to the whole team. I will remember this success for the rest of my life." - Thibau Nys in the winner's interview
Tour de Romandie 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 2
- Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) 4:02:44
- Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:00
- Luke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:04
- Florian Lipowitz (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:14
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +0:16
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:16
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +0:16
- Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) +0:16
- Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:16
- Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) +0:16
Tour de Romandie 2024: the current standings in the overall standings
- Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) 7:55:32
- Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:04
- Luke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:22
- Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:25
- Enric Mas (Movistar) +0:26
- Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) +0:27
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +0:27
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:28
- Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +0:29
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +0:29
This is how the 2nd stage of the Tour de Romandie went
On the 171-kilometre stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie, the overall classification of the tour was set to change for the first time. The start of the race was correspondingly nervous - it took around 20 kilometres and numerous attacks before a breakaway group formed: first five riders managed to break away, then two more joined them. This meant that the leading group of the day comprised seven riders: Roger Adria (Bora-Hansgrohe), the German Nikias Arndt (Bahrain-Victorious), Thibau Nys and the runner-up of the previous day Andrea Vendrame were among those at the front.
The gap quickly grew to almost six minutes, but then the peloton picked up and gradually narrowed the gap to the leaders. EF Education-EasyPost was among those at the front of the peloton.
Runaway Arndt can't keep up
On the Les Mosses climb, Nikias Arndt and Sean Flynn (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) ran into problems in the escape group and had to break away. Andrea Vendrame took the full ten mountain points at the top of the climb. The Italian did not pose a threat to Juri Hollmann, who rode the stage in the mountain jersey, and the Berlin will also wear the jersey on the upcoming stage 3.
Signs of victory for the escape group
On the descent and the following flat section, the peloton was unable to reduce the gap any further. At the intermediate sprint eleven kilometres before the finish, the five escapees still had a three-minute lead. The 15 points in the sprint classification went to Andrea Vendrame, who took the lead in the points classification at the end of the stage.
The gap to the front of the peloton was now rapidly closing and shrank to around one minute with five kilometres to go. The air also became thinner for some riders in the breakaway group, with only Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Andrea Vendrame and Thibau Nys remaining at the front with three kilometres to go.
Lipowitz finishes a strong fourth - classification riders cross the finish line together
Shortly afterwards, Luke Plapp decided to attack out of the peloton and quickly caught up with the leading trio with Florian Lipowitz on his rear wheel. Plapp hadn't had enough and increased the pace again, causing Meurisse and Lipowitz to lose touch. In the end, Plapp, Vendrame and Nys decided the day's victory between them. In the final, Nys won thanks to his attack in the final metres. Lipowitz put in a good performance behind the trio and finished a strong fourth. However, there were no shifts among the favourites for the overall classification.
