Breschel wins second stage of Luxembourg

Matti Breschel (Tinkoff-Saxo) won the second stage in the Tour of Luxembourg, beating Jempy Drucker in an uphill sprint in Schifflange. However, Drucker (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) took the yellow jersey off the shoulders of Danny van Poppel who had to let go of the first group in the last kilometre.

It was a fast start to the 157.4 kilometre stage from Rosport to Schifflange. Up until the first bonus sprint at 25 kilometres the field stayed together despite multiple attempts to break away.

The time bonus in the first sprint went to Tinkoff-Saxo's Michael Mørkøv and Marko Kump with Drucker taking the last available second.

After the sprint the peloton finally let the breakaway of the day go. Boris Dron of Wallonie-Bruxelles was part of it for the second day in a row. The Belgian secured enough points to take the mountain jersey.

Together with Rusvelo's Ilnur Zakarin, Juan Arango for Colombia and Jacques Janse van Rensburg of MTN-Qhubeka they gained a maximum lead of just over four minutes before the peloton started to reel them back in.

Trek Factory Racing saw opportunities for Danny van Poppel to defend his yellow jersey and add another stage win to his palmares. They kept the breakaway within reach and at six kilometres from the line the peloton was complete again.

Tinkoff-Saxo proved ambitious after Mørkøv's second place yesterday. The Danish champion came within eight seconds of the race lead after the first bonus sprint of the day.

Together with teammate Matti Breschel, Mørkøv was in the front of the decimated bunch in the last uphill kilometre with an average gradient of well over 13%. Lotto-Belisol led the bunch into the final but Jelle Vanendert cramped and Vegard Breen, their other ace, had to let go of the front of the group on the last stretch to the finish.

Drucker, who finished second in the prologue and fourth in the first stage was strong but he had to settle for third today. Rusvelo's Sergey Lagutin just outsprinted him on the line.

Breschel was the strongest in the streets of Schifflange. Drucker gets to show the yellow jersey in front of his home crowds tomorrow.

"We had a plan and it was executed to perfection," Breschel said. "I started the sprint and nobody could follow."

The Dane's last win was on home ground in the Tour of Denmark last year.

"I am back on the right track after the injuries. This win is important to me. The team worked hard and our plan worked well."

The third stage of the Tour of Luxembourg is traditionally the deciding day for the overall classification but the last day in the capital city has recently been changed and can bring important changes to the overall as well. The last two days are make or break time for the overall contenders.

Despite losing the yellow jersey Trek Factory Racing, with team captain Fränk Schleck at 35 seconds from race leader Drucker, are not defeated yet.

However, Tinkoff-Saxo with the duo Mørkøv/Breschel in second and fourth place respectively, are very dangerous adversaries to the formally Luxembourg licensed team Trek.

"There are hard stages to come," Saxo-Tinkoff's DS Guidi said. "We are now second overall with Michael [Mørkøv]. There is another day tomorrow and we want to take the lead."

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