AlUla Tour

Stage 2: Winter park - Shalal Sijlyat Rocks

SA Saudi Arabia Wednesday 31 January 2024 184 km

Too hard for the sprinters at the Alula Tour

Too hard for the sprinters at the Alula Tour

Stage 2 of the Saudi race was also the longest one in the history of this race, almost 200 kilometers from Winter Park to the Sharaan Nature Reserve. The course came with a sting in the tail, a short climb just before the flat final kilometer which the sprinters had a chance of surviving depending on the tempo pushed there.

But long before that, crosswinds spiced up the stage, splitting the peloton into four different groups and spreading chaos after just two hours of racing. After a wild chase, things came back together, and Soudal Quick-Step – who was prominent in the echelons – remained at the head of the bunch, driving the tempo with Ayco Bastiaens, who helped bring back the escapees.

Things remained quiet until the final three kilometers, when the road began going up and a flurry of attacks made it clear it wouldn’t be the sprinters’ day. Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) took the win from a small group, while Jordi Warlop finished sixth. Despite not featuring in the finale, Tim Merlier remains well placed in the general classification, just eight seconds off the lead with three days remaining at the Alula Tour.

 

Photo credit: ©Alex Broadway / Getty Images

Race details

1 Søren Wærenskjold
Uno-X Mobility
4:42:04
2 Henok Mulubrhan
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:00
3 Nils Eekhoff
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
4 Bryan Coquard
Cofidis
0:00
5 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
6 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
7 Rick Pluimers
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:00
8 Maikel Zijlaard
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:02
9 Pierre Latour
TotalEnergies
0:02
10 Iván Romeo Abad
Movistar Team
0:02
18 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
0:02
34 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
0:02
38 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:02
61 Warre Vangheluwe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:11
87 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
2:50
92 Ayco Bastiaens
Soudal Quick-Step
3:25
1 Søren Wærenskjold
Uno-X Mobility
8:00:49
2 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
3 Henok Mulubrhan
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:04
4 Nils Eekhoff
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:06
5 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
0:08
6 Matteo Sobrero
BORA - hansgrohe
0:09
7 Xabier Mikel Azparren Irurzun
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
0:09
8 Bryan Coquard
Cofidis
0:10
9 Rick Pluimers
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:10
10 Anders Halland Johannessen
Uno-X Mobility
0:10
29 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
0:12
56 Warre Vangheluwe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:21
60 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
0:36
92 Bert Van Lerberghe
Soudal Quick-Step
3:46
95 Ayco Bastiaens
Soudal Quick-Step
4:20
108 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
6:34
1 Søren Wærenskjold
Uno-X Mobility
22 pt
2 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
21 pt
3 Henok Mulubrhan
Astana Qazaqstan Team
12 pt
4 Dylan Groenewegen
Team Jayco AlUla
12 pt
5 Nils Eekhoff
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
9 pt
6 Tim Merlier
Soudal Quick-Step
9 pt
7 Bryan Coquard
Cofidis
7 pt
8 Dušan Rajović
Bahrain - Victorious
6 pt
9 Jordi Warlop
Soudal Quick-Step
5 pt
10 Arvid de Kleijn
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
5 pt
1 Søren Wærenskjold
Uno-X Mobility
8:00:49
2 Casper van Uden
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
3 Henok Mulubrhan
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:04
4 Xabier Mikel Azparren Irurzun
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
0:09
5 Rick Pluimers
Tudor Pro Cycling Team
0:10
6 Anders Halland Johannessen
Uno-X Mobility
0:10
7 Fred Wright
Bahrain - Victorious
0:10
8 Nicolas Vinokurov
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:12
9 Thomas Pesenti
JCL Team UKYO
0:12
10 Iván Romeo Abad
Movistar Team
0:12
12 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
0:12
17 Warre Vangheluwe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:21
34 Martin Svrček
Soudal Quick-Step
6:34
1 Uno-X Mobility 24:03:01
2 Tudor Pro Cycling Team 0:00
3 Soudal Quick-Step 0:00
4 Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team 0:02
5 Movistar Team 0:02
6 UAE Team Emirates 0:02
7 TotalEnergies 0:02
8 Team Jayco AlUla 0:02
9 Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:02
10 BORA - hansgrohe 0:02

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