Stefan Kung takes ITT and lead at BinckBank Tour
BMC Racing's Stefan Kung took advantage of an early depart to miss the worsening conditions in the fight against the clock
The weather at todays' BinckBank Tour in Voorburg got progressively worse throughout the day. Kung set off early and avoided the worst of it, to set the fastest time of 10m 58 secs, and then had to endure a 2 and half hour wait in the hot seat to see if anyone could better his time.
Second fastest was Maciej Bodnar (Bora) 4 seconds behind and Tom Dumoulin (SunWeb) 5 seconds behind.
As conditions worsened there were the inevitable crashes on some of the more technical corners. Several riders went down but no serious injuries sustained.
"It was a really difficult parcours. Even when I went out, the roads were wet, and it was raining slightly, and there was a lot of tricky corners, and we saw that a few guys crashed," Stefan Kung commented.
"You had to be focused, and there were about 20 turns. You had to remember which turn to take in which way and without an intermediate check point it was all out until the end. When I saw I had the best time, I knew I had beaten good riders like Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb), Maciej Bodnar (Bora-hansgrohe) and Jos Van Emden (Team Lotto-NLJumbo) but you never know. You just have to hope that you still have the best time at the end."
Kung moved into the race lead overall and looks likely to try and defend his lead through until Sunday's final stage
"The goal is to take this jersey all the way to finish. It is going to be hard as there are some difficult stages, a lot of difficult stages actually with the race heading to the Ardennes and then the finish in Geraardsbergen. But I am coming out of the Tour de France, and I am in good shape so, we will fight until the end."
Sagan Stays Upright
Futher back in the starting schedule was Peter Sagan who faced tougher conditions, but stayed upright and finished 25 seconds down losing the race lead, but under the conditions he put in a superb performance, at one stage bunny hopping some road debris and taking the slippery corners at lightening speed.
Sagan is now 8th overall, only 15 seconds down on new race leader Kung.
UCI World Champion, Peter Sagan, was satisfied with his result and the fact we was able to stay safe under heavy rain. "I think I had a good result under such tough weather conditions. It is never easy to race when the conditions aren't the same for everybody but, of course, there is nothing we can do, it's part of a time trial. Overall, I'm satisfied with what I achieved today and, especially, that I didn't crash under the heavy rain. It's a real pity Bodi didn't take the win today, he was strong and got so close."
At the finish line, Maciej Bodnar commented on his second place in a very technical course. "Despite its short length, today's time-trial course was very technical, with many twists and turns. I was lucky that I got off the ramp before the heavy rain started pouring but still, the road wasn't completely dry. The strongest TT riders and specialists started a few minutes later and were also able to take advantage of the same conditions, which meant that the weather didn't turn into an advantage for me. Taking second place, just 4 seconds off the winner, is a pity but despite that, I'm satisfied with my performance and my result. I'm much stronger in less technical time-trials, with fewer curves and stop-and-goes but my result today showed that my accelerations were very strong."
Wednesday's third stage from Blankenberge to Ardooie is 185 kms, the stage is the same as last year's Eneco Tour, when Peter Sagan sprinted to victory.
After 143 kilometres they arrive onto the finishing circuit in Ardooie, with two laps of 15.4 kilometres.
Luckily no Serious Crashes
The wet conditions called for immense bike handling skills, especially for those who started later in the worsening conditions. Luckily no one seemed to have suffered any serious injuiries.
Riders having trouble in the wet conditions at the #BinckBankTour ---> Watch here https://t.co/25sU73zFd2 #BinckBankTour pic.twitter.com/cWII30g8LZ
— GranFondoGuide (@GranFondoGuide) August 8, 2017
Viviani - drift king ?? - BinckBankTour, watch here https://t.co/25sU73zFd2 pic.twitter.com/a07VZcZphq
— GranFondoGuide (@GranFondoGuide) August 8, 2017
Not a great day on the wet and greasy Binckbank Tour ITT ... https://t.co/25sU73zFd2 pic.twitter.com/uD7hv1FiB1
— GranFondoGuide (@GranFondoGuide) August 8, 2017
2017 BinckBank Tour Stage 2 ITT Top Twenty Results
1 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:10:58
2 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:04
3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:05
4 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:00:08
5 Lars Boom (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:10
6 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:12
7 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:14
8 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:15
9 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:17
10 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
11 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:00:18
12 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:19
13 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team UAE Emirates 0:00:20
14 Wout Van Aert (Bel) Veranda's Willems Crelan 0:00:21
15 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:22
16 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:00:24
17 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:25
18 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
19 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Cannondale-Drapac
20 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:00:26
2017 BinckBank Tour GC after Stage 2
1 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 4:01:07
2 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:04
3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:05
4 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:00:08
5 Lars Boom (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:10
6 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:12
7 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:14
8 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:15
9 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
10 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:17