2012 Tour of California May 13 Stage 2: San Francisco - Santa Cruz County 188.5 km

[AntonioRossi]

After quite an expected result in today's stage, it is definitely possible for Sagan to win back to back. With maximum height of about 800 meters it is possible he could win again on Stage 2. There are 2 major climbs, one starting 70 km from the finish and the other one with 40 km from the finish.
Seems like most GC contenders did not lose any time in stage 1

They will be ascending bonny doon a climb that maxes at around 16%.

 

[karlboss]

Should be a little tougher than stage 1. Final climb appears to be about 7.8km at about 6% 32ish km from the finish. So same distance from the finish as today but three times bigger. Smaller bunch sprint of 30 instead of 60, Sagan again.

It wouldn't be impossible to attack that final climb and get a gap, i just can't see anyone strong enough trying it and making it stick, I could however see a group of favourites get to line alone, anything from 3-10 guys.

 

[CQmanager]

1.Sagan
2.Nibali S.T
... Peloton at 30sec

 

[El Pistolero]

1. Boonen
2. Sagan.
3. Haussler

 

[iZnoGouD]

Tiago Machado FTW

 

[greenedge]

I will go Haussler as hopefully Garmin can form maybe more of a train for him. He's due for a win.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Sagan show part too i guess.
Maybe Boonen can challgenge him?

 

[jens_attacks]

if the climb is that hard...expect duarte and horner to give us a little bit of show there.
sagan will win again i guess

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Interesting stage.. in the way that it'll be interesting to see who gets second place.

 

[theyoungest]

If they really race that final climb, they might be able to drop Nibali. He didn't look good at all yesterday, as Leipheimer also noted.

 

[killswitch]

SaganExpress to win today, 3rd, 4th and Big Bear stage.

If they really race that final climb, they might be able to drop Nibali. He didn't look good at all yesterday, as Leipheimer also noted.

Suffering from allergy apparently. Still it would have been very hard for him to win the overall.

 

[Leonardus]

Bit harder than yesterday, smaller group at the finish, lot of orange working on the front and in the end the same winner. Guess that will be today's story.

 

[BillytheKid]

Bit harder than yesterday, smaller group at the finish, lot of orange working on the front and in the end the same winner. Guess that will be today's story.

A lot less real estate to regroup today for sure. This stage adds the Bear Creek Road as where they only did the Empire Grade in 2010. I think today could be a decisive day when it's all said and done. You might see one of the GC contenders force something. The question is weather Sagan can hold on if there's a good split. Nibali is the big question in my mind. If he's building for a good ride at the Tour this summer, he may be a no show here which really hurts the racing. Even a smaller gap of 15 or 20 seconds always comes into play down the road.

 

[BillytheKid]

Actually the Ks to from the summit of Bear Creek road to the finish are not far off yesterday's numbers. The difference is the descent off the Summit Road is longer, more pronounce and closer to the finish. Gaps and splits, but Sagan holds on and may take another stage.

 

[BillytheKid]

Here's the profile again:

 

[max_powers]

the Sagan Wagon

that will be the new catch phrase, esp. after that flat out Stage 1 display.

 

[theyoungest]

that will be the new catch phrase, esp. after that flat out Stage 1 display.

That one only works if you pronounce his name wrong.

 

[manafana]

suits sagan, but could be one for LL sanchez to do well in

 

[Lance Armstrong]

This can get pretty hard, even for Sagan.

64km - Empire Grade 11,8 km, 6,6 % - with sections over 10 %
33km - Bear Creek Rd. 5,3 km, 8,6 %

 

[Bala Verde]

20k downhill and 10k flat. It then depends on whether or not the guys who dominate the climb want to race it to the finish, otherwise there is a lot of time for people to get back.

The last section on the profile to the finish actually looks a bit like up and down. Anyone got some info on the conditions at the finish? Is it flat, rolling hills etc?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I didn't see yesterdays stage. I heard duarte and atapuma looked well in climb and the rest sucked as usual?

 

[jens_attacks]

I didn't see yesterdays stage. I heard duarte and atapuma looked well in climb and the rest sucked as usual?

duarte looked strong,always near papy horner.
i expect him to deliver in tonight's stage.he has to do finally something big this year

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

duarte and atapuma should do well here. atapuma had 3 weeks of extra training in colombia cuz of visum problems and duarte is such a natural he is only very unregular with lack of trainingbase

 

[El Pistolero]

I didn't see yesterdays stage. I heard duarte and atapuma looked well in climb and the rest sucked as usual?

Hill is a better word to use here. And yes, most of Coldeportes sucked. Seems like a team problem, the riders aren't that bad normally.

Duarte looked ok I guess although you can't really tell much from a stage like yesterday's one. Not for climbers at least.

 

[Froome19]

A break consisting of: Bradley White (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team), Jeremy Vennell (Bissell Cycling), Michael Creed (Team Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies), Lloyd Mondory (AG2R La Mondiale), Juan Pablo Suarez Suarez (Colombia-Coldeportes) and Alexandre Geniez (Argos-Shimano)

are around 5 minutes ahead with 134 km to go.

It will be interesting to see what Suarez is capable or incapable of.
But more interesting is Geniez he attacked randomly halfway through yesterday's stage, attacked earlier today and looked strong at Criterium international. He is targeting the tour and is a very promising rider imo so he could be the most dangerous of this group.