Miguel Angel López wins the Queen Stage of the Tour of the Alps

Final surge on the mountain top finish sees Lopez edge out Pinot, Sosa and Froome. Colombian Sosa takes over the race lead.

The second day of action culminated in a tough summit finish on the Alpe di Pampeago, with favorite Chris Froome crossing the line in fourth place, four seconds back on the day’s winner Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana).

Team Sky's Diego Rosa, Sebastian Henao and David de la Cruz put in turns before Kenny Elissonde helped break apart an ever-decreasing lead pack on the final climb up the Alpe di Pampeago.

Under the flamme rouge Froome put in a brief acceleration, and attacks fired around him, he was able to claw his way back to an elite front group. Lopez timed his kick well to take the victory in Fiemme, while fellow young Colombian Ivan Sosa (Androni-Sidermec) finished third to move into the overall race lead.

After the stage Froome said: “I think I’m in a great position considering my main objective for this first part of the season is to be ready for the Giro. I think I’m on track for that and I’m happy with how I’m feeling. I’m really happy with how the team performed today and I think we can take a lot away from today. I think as a team it was a very good test for us. I’m really happy with how the guys performed, especially Kenny Elissonde in the final. Diego (Rosa) did a great ride, Salvatore Puccio earlier in the stage. The guy were really impressive today."

“I’m racing as hard as I can and I’m not going to give up just because I came fourth today. There’s still a lot to race for. Astana have shown that they are very strong and they have a great team here as well. So I expect they will do everything they can to control the race now. But there are a lot of people who still want to race so it’s going to be an exciting next few days hopefully.”

2018 Tour of the Alps Stage Highlights

2018 Tour of the Alps Stage 2 Top 10

1 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team   
2 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ   
3 Ivan Sosa (Col) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec   
4 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky   
5 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida   
6 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Bardiani CSF   
7 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team   
8 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data   
9 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy   
10 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

2018 Tour of the Alps GC after Stage 2

1 Ivan Ramiro Sosa Cuervo (Col) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 7:22:09 
2 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:06 
3 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team   
4 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:16 
5 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:19 
6 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:00:26 
7 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:00:36 
8 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy 0:00:43 
9 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:50 
10 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:01:17 
11 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:21 
12 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:23 
13 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:01:27