Roglic eyes Algarve GC; Turek maintains hold on Ruta sprint jersey
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Ben Hermans raises his arms in celebration(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Daniel Turek (Cycling Academy) is best young rider(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) narrowly beats Primoz Roglic (LottoNl-Jumbo) to win on the Alto da Foia(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The UCI began issuing sanctions in relation to its new rules on movement of vehicles in races. TV motorbike pilot Jean-Marie Corteggiani was removed from the caravan for stage 3 of the Tour of Oman because of "irregular positioning" in the finish the previous day in Al Bustan.
Video footage of the finish shows a TV motorbike finishing alongside the stage winner Ben Hermans (BMC) and crossing the finish line.
The newly introduced guidelines prohibit any vehicles from crossing the finish other than the commissaire, race director, doctor, ambulance and broom wagon. Other vehicles are required to use the deviation before the finish line.
On hilltop finishes or those without deviations, such as the one on stage 2 in Oman, "vehicles must cross the finish line between groups of riders, and in particular must not obscure the view of the photo finish equipment as well as fixed TV cameras".
Roglic on losing end of fierce battle with Dan Martin, but has eye on the GC
Stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve came down to a gloves off, mano a mano battle between LottoNl-Jumbo's Primoz Roglic and Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) on the Alto da Foia. The pair escaped the leading group and then attacked each other repeatedly in the final two kilometers of the summit finish. Martin held off a late surge by Roglic to take the win, the time bonus and the race lead by four seconds over the Czech rider.
"I race to win, but I can be happy with my level," Roglic said. "Second place proves that I am doing well, Martin was just slightly stronger today. I gave everything on the climb and tried to attack a number of times, but I could not lose him."
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Last year, Roglic made his name known with an individual time trial stage win in the Giro d'Italia, but he showed his climbing prowess before signing to the Dutch WorldTour team in 2015, when he beat Mikel Nieve (Sky) to win the Tour de Slovenie.
With a third place behind Tony Martin in stage 2 of the Vuelta a Valenciana already in the bag this season, Roglic is feeling fit and confident ahead of the 18km individual time trial in Sagres on Friday.
"I am at a good level. My good form is there and I want to do everything to show that. I do my best, and this was the result. This gives us confidence for the next few days. It was a tough day and the team helped me today. Tomorrow, we have to do our best in the time trial again."
Turek keeps sprint jersey for another day at Ruta del Sol
Cycling Academy's Daniel Turek will wear the Ruta del Sol’s sprint jersey for at least one more day after the 24-year-old Czech rider held the jersey during stage 2 on Thursday.
Turek, who has the longest tenure with the first Israeli-registered pro team, won the jersey during the first stage after infiltrating a breakaway that stayed away for 120km, finally surrendering to the chase with 34km to go.
Turek led the sprint classification and was second in the mountains category after stage 1 which included multiple KOMs and one intermediate sprint. He held on through stage 2, won by Pinot Thibaut ahead of Alberto Contador, to maintain his sprint lead and continue as second behind Sunweb’s Georg Priedler in the mountains competition.
