As it happened: Frenchman delivers from breakaway on Tour de Suisse Men stage 2 after breathless finale

Pogačar may not have been able to guide his teammate Narváez to the stage win, or indeed win the day himself, as the breakaway survived his efforts, but he did still gain time on all of his main GC rivals. The race was already out of sight following his domination on Wednesday, but he’s now 2:50 ahead of Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) in second, who is the only rider within three minutes of his yellow jersey.

Elation for Grégoire as he crossed the line in Locarno. It was a tough fight to get in the early breakaway, but one that was worth it. It’s not provisionally down on his schedule, but it’s safe to assume he should make up part of Groupama’s Tour de France squad, where he will be chasing a stage win in similar fashion.

Here’s the top 10 from stage 2 at the Tour de Suisse, with the breakaway surviving in front and Grégoire winning the sprint. Pogačar and Vacek came close after a full-gas chase, but had to settle for top 10 placings four seconds down on the winner.

Pickering tried to pick up, but coming around the final corner with 250 metres to go it’s Grégoire who spears into the lead and he’s going to take it!

500 to go and they are still looking at each other, but Pogačar and Vacek are surely too far away. It’s going to go to one of the breakaway riders.

Lemmen takes off from the break after a lull in pace, but those with him have snapped onto his wheel.

Pogačar and Vacek are still cooperating, while they have started to attack each other in front, marking each other out. Gap at 11 seconds.

The six riders remaining from the break in front look nervous, but the twists and turns of the run to the line should help them maintain their lead.

The gap from the six in front to Pogačar and Vacek is down to just 20 seconds or so. The Czech rider is a top time trial rider, so can do a lot of the work, but he won’t want to give the world champion a free ride to the finish line.

There are still six breakaway riders in front of Pogačar and Vacek with 7km to go: Verstrynge, Vader, Gregoire, Zana, Pickering, and Lemmen. Just 37 seconds separate them from the front of the race.

Pogačar is back on the front and working for Narváez, but the Ecuadorian has to pull the pin, unable to match his team leader. Still, Vacek has the ability to follow, stunning ride from the 24-year-old.

They’ve switched order in the UAE train onto the Via Consiglio Mezzano, with McNulty in front of Narváez, and Pogačar just sitting a couple of wheels down.

It’s Pogačar ominously pushing on the front to catch these final few seconds back on the break. He’s leading the remnants of the peloton down this descent and will surely blow up the final climb for his teammate Narvaez.

Verstrynge is one of those who responded to Eulalio’s move, but he’s trying to get the strongest climbers in the break to work together, and failing.

McNulty’s pace is definitely doing damage, and even with those attacks in front, the gap is falling quickly to those in front, now at 1:20 with 13.8km to go.

Attack from Eulálio, who is showing off some more of that stunning Giro form. The break is splintering as the race kicks off all over the road.

The break is still 13-strong in front, but they will need to get a move on if they don’t want to be swallowed up by UAE. 90 seconds is all they have, but it is holding.

Pogačar has suddenly moved up in the main bunch onto the Fanghi climb and looks like a coiled spring. UAE’s McNulty upping the pace reduced the gap down to 1:30 in rapid time.

It’s Pickering who kicks off the action in front, but Alaphilippe is straight onto his wheel as are the others in front. Peloton is now 1:45 behind after the impetus returned.

Analysing the breakaway as the stage win looks more likely to be going their direction, I would say Grégoire should be best suited to the finale, but there is a lot of punch in this group from the likes of Alaphilippe and top cyclo-cross rider Verstrynge.

Pinarello Q36.5 also remain the strongest team, numbers-wise, and if Wright can make it into a small-group sprint, this could be his day, though Vader should be better-suited to the punchy hills.

EF Education-EasyPost have moved themselves towards the front of the peloton near UAE, finally offering up a helping hand with second-placed Richard Carapaz among their ranks.

The break are flying along in front and holding off the efforts of UAE behind. There onto a slightly downhill section of the route, which is helping them stay ahead with such high speeds.

Pogačar looks very comfortable in the bunch, chatting away with teammates as Wellens and Politt continue trying to bring back the break.

Here’s a reminder of the 14 riders in the break, who still have a 2:36 advantage with 45km to go and are working well against the chasing UAE-led peloton:
– Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
– Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious)
– Ewen Costiou (Groupama-FDJ United)
– Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United)
– Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek)
– Filippo Zana (Soudal-QuickStep)
– Finlay Pickering (Jayco AlUla)
– Chris Hamilton (Picnic PostNL)
– Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike)
– Marco Schrettle (XDS Astana)
– Milan Vader (Pinarello-Q36.5)
– Marcel Camprubi (Pinarello Q36.5)
– Fred Wright (Pinarello Q36.5)
– Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor)

Front wheel change for Tobias Foss back in the main group. He’s got one teammate waiting for him after a slow change.

UAE have brought more firepower to the front in the form of Belgian champion Tim Wellens.

No help for UAE in the peloton as they continue to let the gap grow. Approaching three minutes now, but they should turn it on when they get nearer to the punchy finale.

While UAE are chasing with the race leader Pogačar as the obvious choice for the stage win, the Slovenian did point to other potential outcomes after his dominant stage win yesterday:

“[Tomorrow’s goal is] stay safe and keep the jersey,” he said. “We have a strong team; we can try to go for the stage with Johnny [Narváez], Brandon [McNulty], or Felix [Großschartner], or anybody else in the team, we’ll see how the guys feel.”

Could he be riding for a teammate come the final climbs?

Fred Wright is back in the break after his crash. Still 14 in the lead, 1:48 ahead of the UAE-led peloton.

The bunch really aren’t letting the break have it their way on stage two; the gap is down to 1:25.

Riders in the peloton can expect to see a lot of Nils Politt on the front today, as he works for Pogačar in the peloton.

With the gap to the break still at only 1:40, there are no real threats to Pogačar’s yellow jersey in the 14-man move. Pickering started as the closest overall, 4:44 down.

Afonos Eulálio announced himself to the world at the Giro d’Italia with a stunning stint in the pink jersey. Here he is leading the breakaway on stage 2 at the Tour de Suisse, but he won’t be able to mount much of a surprise attack.

After being allowed to form on a long section of uncategorised climbing, the break is now onto a long descent and then flatter middle section of the route.

After a tough opening hour of racing on stage 2, the average speed was 46kph.

There are 14 riders in the front now on stage 2, with 115km to go:
– Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
– Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious)
– Ewen Costiou (Groupama-FDJ United)
– Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United)
– Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek)
– Filippo Zana (Soudal-QuickStep)
– Finlay Pickering (Jayco AlUla)
– Chris Hamilton (Picnic PostNL)
– Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike)
– Marco Schrettle (XDS Astana)
– Milan Vader (Pinarello-Q36.5)
– Marcel Camprubi (Pinarello Q36.5)
– Fred Wright (Pinarello Q36.5)
– Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor)

Race leader Pogačar’s UAE team are controlling on the front of the peloton, as expected.

Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) is on the move in a counterattack, trying to join the front group. The peloton is not letting up at all, though, with the gap still at just 25 seconds.

More attacks coming now over a section of uncategorised climbing. Just a day and a half into this edition and it’s been all-out pretty much the entire time.

A look inside some of the early action, with UAE, Lidl and Tudor among the teams towards the front in the peloton.

The gaps are still slim at only 12 seconds, however. Lorenzo Rota (Lotto-Intermarché) is chasing to try and make it three in front.

While the next categorised climbs don’t come until the final 20km of the stage, there’s lot of uncategorised uphill roads along the remainder of the route until then, so expect more action.

Vervaeke led the race over the King of the Mountains point, taking the maximum six points. He’s still a ways away from the haul of 14 Pogačar took on the opening day.

Over the upper slopes of the climb and the crest, the composition of the front group on stage 2 has changed dramatically, with five riders now in the lead:
– Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious)
– Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep)
– Remy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ United)
– Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike)
– Xabier Mikel Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5)

Movistar have made a big move on this climb, with both Nairo Quintana and Enric Mas also attacking across to join the original group of six and their teammate Aular.

Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) has attacked across to the leading group. He’s a deadly threat for the stage win if this move can stick, but the gaps are still small.

The gap to the breakaway is coming down quickly on this first climb as more riders jump off the front and some start to struggle under the pressure of the high tempo.

The breakaway has a lead of around 40 seconds as it reaches the first climb of the stage to Monte Ceneri (5.2km at 6.4%).

Early breakaway composition:
– Paul Lapeira (Decathlon CMA CGM)
– Alec Segaert (Bahrain-Victorious)
– Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United)
– Orluis Aular (Movistar)
– Patrick Gamper (Jayco AlUla)
– Xandro Meurisse (Pinarello-Q36.5)

Race leader Tadej Pogačar was given a prize to commemorate him reaching 100 career victories at the start in Locarno. Curiously, he managed this feat on stage 4 of last year’s Tour and has won 18 times since then, perhaps explaining the look on his face…

157.7km to go

Stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse men is underway. All 136 riders who finished yesterday’s opener have taken the start.

The riders are away from the start line and onto a 4.1-kilometre section of neutralised racing, before the official start.

Just minutes away from the start in Locarno, and the riders will only have around 12km of racing to settle in before the first climb to Monte Ceneri (5.2km at 6.4%).

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse, set to be another undulating race starting and finishing in Locarno.