Sam Bennett may have won the bunch sprint on stage 2 of the Tour de Romandie today but it was only for 2nd place as the sprinters’ teams misjudged their efforts.
Up ahead of them Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) claimed a solo
victory after 174.4km from Le Locle to Morges.
The Swiss rider had gone in the early breakaway on a sodden
day for racing. And though those he was with were all caught, powerhouse Kung
had the legs to press on solo and win the day.
It meant the only stage on this race with a very clear
opportunity for the sprinters was lost because their teams underestimated Kung.
At one point Bennett’s Bora-hansgrohe team mates appeared to
be asking Jumbo-Visma if they would assist in closing the gap to the escapees.
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However, the team of race leader Primoz Roglic had no need
to assist as Kung is no challenge in the race for the overall title.
It meant Kung was free to ride to victory; taking his solo
win some 59 seconds ahead of the peloton.
While the sprint was only for the runner-up spot it was
keenly contested. However, Sam Bennett got the better of Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain
Merida), with Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) only managing 5th
on the stage.
Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) was 84th today, finishing in the peloton. Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo) was 124th at 7:42.
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