Taihu Lake Peloton contests bunch sprint in wet conditions

In a repeat of stage 1, today’s stage of the Tour of Taihu Lake was contested in a bunch sprint in wet conditions. However, in contrast to the opening stage, the peloton had a breakaway to keep in check and eventually reeled them in on the final lap of the circuit. Declan Irvine narrowly missed out on making it two top 20s in a row when he completed the stage in 22^nd place.  

Sports Director, Massimo Podenzana:

“Today’s stage was a flat circuit of 14 km which was to be repeated 10 times but due to the heavy rain, one lap was removed. After 30 km, a breakaway of 6 riders got away. They seemed to work well together and were only caught on the last lap. Our riders tried to go in the breakaway but no one succeeded, unfortunately. The whole group arrived together for a sprint finish.”

Declan Irvine:

“Stage 2 came down to a bunch sprint once again. Our first plan was to try to get a rider in the breakaway but when we didn’t achieve that, we turned our attention to staying safe throughout the stage. The rain was quite heavy which made the circuit a little more stressful. We managed to stay out of trouble and Umberto and I were well positioned in the final and just slipped outside the top 20.“