Event: 24-29 April 2012
Stage 2 - Montbeliard - Moutier 149.1 km
Report:
Team Sky rode hard on the front all day to ensure Bradley Wiggins maintained the yellow jersey on stage two of the Tour de Romandie.
A strong team performance ensured that Wiggins and Michael Rogers remained first and second on the standings, the Brit holding a lead of seven seconds as the race reached its half-way point.
The team controlled the pace for the second day in succession, holding a two-man breakaway at arm's length to make sure Wiggins pulled on Team Sky's 14th yellow jersey of the season.
Jonathan Hivert (Saur-Sojasun) sprinted to victory on the day, bursting down the left-hand side of the road before squeezing through a small gap to take a significant WorldTour win for his squad.
Hivert held off the attentions of Rui Costa (Movistar) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) on the line in Moutier, while Rogers was the first Team Sky jersey home in 13th, blocked slightly on his run to the finish.
Team effort
After the stage Wiggins was quick to pay tribute to the ride the team put in during the day.
"Today, once again, they were incredible," he said. "You are nothing in this sport without a good team and the last two days they’ve shown they are probably the strongest team in the race and hopefully we can keep it going again tomorrow. It’s all about tomorrow when you are riding GC and we’re taking it day by day.
"Cycling is very, very simple and people try to over-complicate it. You just have to go as hard as you can when everybody else does. If you haven’t got the legs to do that then it doesn’t matter whether you know the course or not."
"When I do race I race to win and that’s very much the case here as I hope I showed yesterday."
Swiss test
Three categorised climbs stood between the peloton and a bunch sprint as the 149-kilometre stage headed out of Montbeliard.
Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol) and Christian Meier (GreenEDGE) combined to make the day’s breakaway, building up an advantage out on the road under the watchful eye of Team Sky.
As the stage neared its conclusion, a few attempted attacks tried to push clear on the second category La Caquerelle climb, the steep ramps proving a step too far for world champion Mark Cavendish who slipped back.
Chris Froome set a solid tempo on the climb on his return from illness as Peter Stetina (Garmin-Barracuda) and Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur-Sojasun) kicked on, the duo becoming the final men to be caught with 4km to go, a move which saw other teams arrive on the front to set the pace for a sprint.
