If you love the moment the wind shifts and some team hammers it at the front … you’ll enjoy this. Echelons Ahoy!!!

Stage 2: Zottegem to Koksijde, 192.9km

On a route that featured the Kemmelberg at the midway point, it was the flat stretch of coastal road at De Moeren where the race was split apart. A place where the wind HOWLS and there is no place to hide. It took moments for Trek Segafredo and Quick Step Floors to sniff the opportunity and hit the front. 22 riders made the first echelon,  and as they included including the best sprinters and the race leader, they were never seen again by the chasing pack. In a pure power, into-the-headwind sprint Alexander Kristoff (Katusha Alpecin) got the better of Trek-Segafredo’s Edward Theuns, with Marcel Kittel (Quick Step Floors) in third. Philippe Gilbert (Quick Step Floors) goes into the final day with a 50sec lead on Matthias Brandle (Trek-Segafredo) with Kristoff at +1:07. Orica Scott’s Luke Durbridge missed the first echelon. Despite chasing hard he never got back and tumbled from 2nd to 12th on GC…

Highlights…

The day summed up by Aqua Blue’s Conor Dunne

and this is what it takes…

Full report at Cycling News.

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Header image: Alexander Kristoff  © LC/Tim De Waele/Corbis via Getty Images