Visma | LaB talent wins stage 2 of Tour de l'Avenir with powerful sprint, Decomble takes leader's jersey from Seixas

After the young Seixas struck gold in the prologue on the first day, it was a sprint that had to decide the outcome on day two. Talented sprinter Noah Hobbs claimed victory in the streets of Saint-Galmier in a bunch sprint. The leader's jersey, however, remained with the young Frenchman from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale.

Heading into Monday, expectations were once again for a bunch sprint to determine the winner. The second stage covered 136.7 kilometers and included three categorized climbs, nothing too troubling for the sprinters. With the final climb more than 65 kilometers from the finish, the fast men were expected to have another shot.

Right from the start, the road rose toward the first climb, creating a rather chaotic beginning. The French team launched several early attacks, leading to a brief breakaway of thirteen riders. But a few kilometers later, the group was reeled back in.

A new breakaway of ten riders formed, including top favorite Noah Hobbs, but that effort didn’t last long either. The peloton never eased up, and the relentless pace discouraged further attacks for a while. A calmer phase followed, with the bunch riding together as one compact group.

But the race finally exploded on the Côte de Coutouvre (2.6 km at 4.3%). Nineteen riders broke away from the peloton, including Dutchman Otto van Zanden. France had the strongest presence in the group with three riders, while Belgium had only Tim Rex in the move.

With about 70 kilometers to go, the race was suddenly full gas. The newly formed break quickly pulled out a gap of over three minutes. Great Britain took up the chase in the peloton, assisted by Italy and Norway, each of whom had only one rider up front.

The pack behind never got closer. In fact, the gap to the group of twenty riders kept growing second by second. With less than 30 kilometers to go, the difference had ballooned to three and a half minutes, making it clear that the stage winner was riding somewhere up front.

There was still an effort from behind, but the chase came far too late. Meanwhile, the breakaway kept up the pace, and the tactical games for the stage win only started very late. Dutch rider Otto van Zanden launched a bold attack just over a kilometer from the line, but his move was quickly neutralized.

It all came down to a group sprint among the nineteen. Maxime Decomble tried to jump first, but couldn’t shake the others. Elliot Rowe launched from the Frenchman’s wheel with a perfectly timed sprint and took the win. With that, the rider from Visma | Lease a Bike’s development team handed Great Britain a second victory in two days.