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Published on Monday, 12 August 2013 23:43

Eneco Tour Stage 2 Preview

Ardooie - Vorst, 176.9km

A sensational and audacious attack by Mark Renshaw as the riders hit the 1km to go flag stole the stage today and left the sprinters teams ruing letting him go. Renshaw himself said that his attack was not planned, that he was supposed to be working for Theo Bos today!

You could this as he put in a turn at the front as they hit the flamme rouge, got a little gap but kept looking back to see where his team mates were.. they seemed to sit up a little and that was all the encouragement he needed as he put his head down and went full gas all the way to the line, the twisty turns and bends helping his escape.

my pre-race thoughts that Wiggins was terrible value to win was reinforced by another poor performance, being one of only a handful of riders who were caught out by a split in the last 10km or so. Not great timing to put in ya show like that headlines of his weight gain bounce around the world. He will need to put in a big performance in the TT to allay concerns over his condition again, despite what he did in Poland.

Stage two on Tuesday is a tough day that heads towards the roads of the Tour of Flanders around the City of Ronse, taking in the Cote de Trieu (1.1km at 8%) after 45,8km racing and is followed by the Kruisberg (1km at 6%, partly cobbled) 7,5km further up the road. From there the riders head up the Mont Saint Laurent (1.3km at 6,5%, partly cobbled) and Mont (1.7km at 4,7%) before the roads once again flatten out as the riders leave the Flemish Ardennes to head towards Brussells.

As they approach the capital the roads get hillier again as they tackle some of the climbs of the Brabantse Pijl - the Alsemberg (1.2km at 4%) and the Bruine Put (0.8km at 8,2%) with less than 14km left to run. From there it's a fast downhill and flat run towards the finish line in Vorst, but the stage finish is far from straight forward. The last kilometer is uphill with an average gradient of 5%! It should be interesting to see if some riders open up time gaps so early in the race on this pull ot the line. 

It isn't a day for the pure sprinters and the fact that Kittel is available at 28/1 with Bet365 reflects that.. Greipel is only 6/1 though but that is because of his proven ability to get over the lumpy stuff better than many other sprinters. Gilbert is the 5/2 favourite for the stage and although it is his terrain I can't be backing him at that price. 

One that does interest me though is Jens Keukeleire - he took two superb stage wins in the Vuelta a Burgos last Thursday and Friday so he is clearly in great form. More importantly though for tomorrow's stage is that both the wins were on short uphill finishes, a little like the finish tomorrow. He had his contract renewed by Orica Green-Edge last week, the day he took his first stage win, so confidence and happyness are high with him right now. He is only 15/2 with Bet365 but I have taken some 12/1 on Betfair tonight.

Another rider of interest has to be Matti Breschel - he has finished 3rd in Gent-Wevelgem and 9th in the Tour of Flanders last year, and won two stages in the Denmark Rundt just a few weeks ago, with his second stage coming on a lumpy, hilly stage like tomorrows. Again Bet365 are offering only 9/1 but he is available to back at 14/1 on betfair and that is also worth an interest too.

A tough stage to call but it should be an exciting one, hopefully Breschel and Keukeleire will be in the mix coming to the final hill for a bit of excitement.