Surprise! Evenepoel attacks but misses the decisive move; Fortunato wins the second stage in Romandie after superb acceleration

The British dominated the stages in Switzerland after Sam Watson won the prologue and his compatriot Matthew Brennan won the first stage. The 19-year-old sprinter from Visma | Lease a Bike survived the difficult hills and finished with a decisive attack. But defending the leader's jersey would be a tough task. Once again, the route of stage two went up and down: the finish was flat, but getting there meant conquering some challenging climbs.

It was climbing from the start, and it was an all-out war on the tricky sections. Many names got mixed up in the action, including Evenepoel. The Belgian rider tried to break away before the first summit but couldn't find any space. Those who did find space were mountain king Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Welay Hagos Berhe (Jayco AlUla), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Hugh Carthy (EF Education - EasyPost), and Raúl García Pierna (Arkéa-B&B Hotels). The pace was extremely high, causing considerable damage: leader Brennan had already been dropped, and home favorite Jan Christen abandoned the race.

Brennan (as well as Artem Schmidt and Sam Watson of INEOS Grenadiers) had to chase, but the pace slowed somewhat on the flat middle section. The second group managed to return to the peloton, where Visma | Lease a Bike immediately took responsibility for the chase (with help from Soudal Quick-Step). But as soon as the road started climbing again, the British leader had to give up. It was not the day of the super talent.

While the two leaders still had a two-minute lead, it slowly became clear that Remco Evenepoel had something up his sleeve on the final climb. His teammates picked up the pace considerably, making it difficult for Brennan and co. to rejoin before the climb began. In the end, they didn't succeed, and their chances of a second stage win looked slim.

On the steep final climb, the peloton slowly fell apart, and the back of the pack burst open. It seemed like fireworks were about to go off, but the favorites remained remarkably calm. As a result, a relatively large group started the final 45 kilometers. However, the pace remained high on the descent: Jay Vine and Juan Pedro López attempted an attack but could not gain much ground as the pace in the chasing group remained high.

It was Evenepoel who accelerated in the group behind. Irishman Eddie Dunbar joined him, and at this point, it was no longer a peloton but a group of favorites. Vine and López were caught, after which Alex Baudin attacked. Once again, López and the young Belgian Junior Lecerf went after him. Together with Baudin, they formed a trio.

Fortunato and Lennert van Eetvelt also reached the front in the last phase. Both men closed the gap, leaving five riders in the lead with 24 kilometers to go. The gap to the chasing group behind them (thirteen riders including Evenepoel, Dunbar, Carlos Rodriguez, and João Almeida) was now under a minute. They weren't working together in that group, while the five in front were doing well. As a result, their lead remained stable for a long time at around one minute.

The leaders extended their lead to one and a half minutes with 9 kilometers to go. The men behind them in the GC seemed fine with the five fighting for the stage win, given the tough mountain stage on Saturday and the time trial on Sunday.

With a margin of a minute and a half, it was time for Lecerf and Baudin to give up the chase. As the last three kilometers began, the games at the front had already started. Fortunato seemed to surprise his fellow breakaway riders in the final kilometer with a superb acceleration. Van Eetvelt had to close the gap on the Italian but failed to do so. The Italian managed to secure the victory, while Baudin finished second behind him. As a result, the Frenchman now leads the GC.