The field was well wrapped up against the cold
All eight riders on the An Post-Sean Kelly team have finished in the bunch on the second stage of the five-day Étoile de Bessèges in the south of France today, after a farcical stop-start episode.
Confusion was the order of the day after a fall of snow and below zero temperatures put the stage in doubt but organisers then opted to go ahead.
As a precaution, the official start was moved around ten miles further down the course in order to avoid a descent that may have proven too dangerous given the weather conditions.
It appears that as a result of a rider protest, the start was then moved almost 100kms down the course, with the entire race travelling to the revised start in team vehicles.
Advertisement
Related News
The farce only ended when the riders raced around what was to be the stage finishing circuits in Saint-Ambroix
Find below the provisional stage result for the top 20 finishers. We understand all of the An Post-Sean Kelly team was in the bunch but we will have confirmation of that later, along with their finishing positions.
Stage 2: Result
1. Marcel Kittel 1t4i 100 20
2. Kris Boeckmans Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team 90 15
3. Nacer Bouhanni Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat 85 10
4. Daniele Colli Team Type 1 - SANOFI 80 8
5. Justin Jules Team Véranda Rideau-U 75 6
6. Michael Van Staeyen Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 70 5
7. Jean-pierre Drucker Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s 66 4
8. Sébastien Chavanel Europcar 62 3
9. Samuel Dumoulin Cofidis - Le Credit En Ligne 58 2
10. Tom Van Asbroeck Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 54 1
11. Anthony Ravard Ag2R - La Mondiale 50 -
12. Alexandre Pichot Europcar 48 -
13. Bobbie Traksel Landbouwkrediet - Euphony 46 -
14. Fabien Bacquet Big Mat - Auber 93 44 -
15. Onbekend 42 -
16. Gijs Van Hoecke Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 40 -
17. Renaud Dion Bretagne Schuller 38 -
18. Kenneth Vanbilsen An Post-M. Donnelly-Grant Thornton - S... 36 -
19. Jure Kocjan Team Type 1 - SANOFI 34 -
20. Yannick Martinez La Pomme Marseille 32 -
21. Joeri Stallaert Landbouwkrediet - Euphony 30 -
22. Julien El Fares Team Type 1 - SANOFI 29 -
23. Romain Matheou Team Véranda Rideau-U 28 -
24. Sven Jodts Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator 27 -
25. Stéphane Poulhies Saur - Sojasun 26 -
