Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) finished in the front group on stage 2 of the Tour de France today as the field split on the first climbs of the 2020 edition.
However, it was Sam Bennett's Deceuninck-QuickStep team mate Julian Alaphilippe who took the stage victory, and with it the yellow jersey.
He attacked on the final climb of the day - Col des Quatre Chemins - with just over 13km to go to the finish in Nice. Former world U23 road race champion Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb) was the only rider to move with him.
And after a short period off the front they were joined by Adam Yates (Mitchelton Scott); that trio just about surviving in front of a very small peloton.
Yates took the time bonus from Alaphilippe before they reached the finish but it was the French rider who took the finishing sprint, just holding off 22-year-old Hirschi, with Yates in 3rd place.
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The British rider lost one second to the winner and runner-up in the sprint and what remained of the peloton - just 33 riders - was led home one second after Yates by Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team).
Roche was in that group, 24th on the stage and just two seconds down on the stage winner. He is now 26th overall among a group of riders, all 17 seconds down on Alaphilippe, who now leads overall by four seconds from Yates with Hirschi in 3rd at seven seconds.
Dan Martin (Israel Start Up Nation) sat up in the finale, clearly still impacted by the fractured bone in his back he suffered at the Dauphiné. He finished in 100th place, some 17:45 down.
That means he should get plenty of leeway to go up the road in search of a stage win if his health is up to it later in the race. Sam Bennett, who was 4th yesterday, finished in 168th today in a group almost 29 minutes down; the hilly stage today not to his liking.
However, Bennett should get a chance tomorrow to sprint it out for victory as stage 3 takes the riders some 198km from Nice to Sisteron on roads that are not pan flat but which should still end in a sprint.
Bennett's team will have the added responsibility of working to hold onto yellow tomorrow but that should not prevent the Irishman getting a chance to aim for a stage win and being supported by his team in the finale.
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