Chaos Reigns On Stage 2 Of The Hammer Series

In a chaos-filled second stage of the Hammer Series, Trek-Segafredo emerged as the top points winners in the Hammer Sprint on Saturday in Limburg, Netherlands.

Jun 3, 2017 by Travis Miller

Chaos Reigns On Stage 2 Of The Hammer Series

In a chaos-filled second stage of the Hammer Series, Trek-Segafredo emerged as the top points winners in the Hammer Sprint on Saturday in Limburg, Netherlands. The team had a lot to make up for after a rough start to the series on Friday's climbs, and it rebounded by fighting at the front all day to earn a stage-high 70.7 points. Meanwhile, Team Sunweb rose to the overall lead and will start Sunday's time trial chase in the pole position.

Right from the gun, the attacks started as four riders separated to contest the first-lap sprint. Sep Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac) took the first points of the day. After a disappointing start to the Hammer Series on the climb stage, Cannondale-Drapac was clearly motivated to earn back more points Saturday.

The second lap played out in similar fashion. Another small group created a gap big enough to distance the peloton and contend for the points at stake. The second lap of the stage was more important with double points on the line. Trek-Segafredo was another team that wasn't happy with the Stage 1 results. Matthias Brandle launched his sprint early to win the full 20 points and move Trek-Segafredo to a 12-point lead over Quick-Step Floors.

The biggest takeaway from the third lap wasn't the sprint itself. Shortly after Ramon Sinkeldam collected 10 points for Team Sunweb, he ended up on the ground in a crash that took down a few riders. Most notably, Caleb Ewan hit the deck hard and was forced to abandon. It was an unfortunate moment for Orica-Scott. The team was in a great position after day one with Luke Durbridge scoring a lot of points on the climb, and it expected to keep its momentum going with big points from Ewan in the sprints. Not only would Ewan no longer be able to score, but also the 3.5 points he earned on the lap three sprint would not count.

Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) made the big move on the fourth lap to take 10 points on the line. Team Sky also began to make its presence felt and moved up to third overall on the stage by putting three riders in the top 10. Sky's Elia Vivani was expected to play a big part on this stage. By winning the bunch sprint for fourth, he began to show he was in good form to move his team up the standings.

Going through the fifth lap, the peloton was more controlled. There weren't any significant attacks. It seemed every team was content to ease back and let its sprinters fight for the double points at the end of the lap. Team Sunweb appeared to be in perfect position but misjudged the headwind going into the final stretch. Viviani sprinted along the barriers to win the 20 points, and Trek-Segafredo put two riders in the top 10 to maintain its lead. Sky now moved into second place on the stage 20 points behind Trek-Segafredo.

After losing its main sprinter in Ewan, Orica-Scott sent Roger Kluge up the road at the end of the sixth lap. He pulled away with 3km remaining to comfortably help his team gain back some points. With two laps remaining, Trek-Segafredo began to feel the pressure. Viviani scored more big points by finishing second on the six lap, and teammate Jon Bidden also scored in the top 10. The overall scores on the stage now closed down to a 10-point margin with Sky steadily moving closer to the leaders.

After winning the opening lap, Vanmarcke disappeared through the middle laps of the race. The Belgian rider than surfaced on lap seven. Working with NIPPO Vini Fantini athlete Marco Canola, they left the peloton behind to contest the sprint. Canola clearly was the faster man and easily won the top points on the line. Coming through the finish, Vanmarcke indicated that he wanted to keep working. The duo then began sharing the pace on the final lap and extended their lead to become the longest-lasting break so far on the second stage of the Hammer Series.

Vanmarcke and Canola worked well together on the final lap. The peloton couldn't get organized behind. A few late attacks were made in the final 2km once teams got nervous about fighting for the last double points available on the second stage. After losing the previous sprint, Vanmarcke launched early to end the day on a high point for Cannondale-Drapac.

Overall on the day, the lead established through the early laps would hold for Trek-Segafredo. They finished with a nine-point margin of victory over Lotto Soudal. Late heroics from Vanmarcke helped move Cannondale-Drapac up to third in the Hammer Sprint. The points from Trek-Segafredo and Cannondale-Drapac gave them enough to move into the group of top eight teams going into the Hammer Chase on Sunday.