Benjamin King , quando la fortuna aiuta gli audaci. Il portacolori della Cannondale, ex campione degli Stati Uniti, ha battuto il suo compagno di fuga Evan Huffman, , nella seconda tappa dell' Amgen Tour of California , riuscendo a precedere di otto secondi la volata del gruppo vinta da Kristoff su Sagan e Niccolo Bonifazio. Per l'italiano un ottimo quinto posto sul traguardo di Santa Clarita. Decima piazza per Marco Canola. Grazie agli otto secondi guadagnati sul gruppo Benjamin King indossa anche la maglia gialla di leader della corsa a tappe che oggi, martedì, quando sarà notte fonda in Italia, celebrerà con la terza frazione, la giornata più dura di questo Amgen Tour of California. La tappa, di 167,5 km, da Thousand Oaks a Santa Barbara County, prevede la scalata del monte Gibraltar , una salita lunga 11 km con una pendenza media dell' 8%.
VERSION EN FRANCAISE:Benjamin King (Cannondale) a concrétisé lundi à Santa Clarita une échappée au long cours en remportant la deuxième étape de l'Amgen Tour of California. L'Américain détrône Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) de la tête du classement général à la veille de l'étape-reine.
La deuxième étape de l'Amgen Tour of California a souri à un audacieux. L'ancien champion des Etats-Unis Ben King (Cannondale) a pu lever les bras lundi au prix d'un dernier effort pour devancer Evan Huffman (Rally Cycling), son compagnon d'échappée. Derniers rescapés d'une offensive menée à quatre, les deux Américains ont passé à l'avant l'essentiel des 148 kilomètres de course entre South Pasadena et Santa Clarita. "Je savais qu'Evan était rapide au sprint", explique King, premier vainqueur d'étape américain sur l'Amgen Tour of California depuis Taylor Phinney en 2014. Il m'a devancé au sommet de deux ascensions pour le classement de la montagne donc j'hésitais à attendre le sprint. Je n'ai pas pu le lâcher dans les montées donc on s'est entendu pour mener l'échappée au bout. Evan a lancé le sprint et j'ai pu le remonter dans le final."
Ben King fait ainsi coup double en s’emparant également du maillot jaune de leader, au lendemain de la prise de pouvoir de Peter Sagan (Tinkoff). Il aura pour autant fallu plus d'une heure pour voir l'échappée du jour se former, avec le Norvégien Sindre Skjoestad Lunke (Giant-Alpecin) et un autre Américain, Will Barta (Aexon Hagens Berman), pour accompagner King et Huffman. L'avance des hommes de tête a atteint les 7'30 à mi-course, obligeant le peloton à lancer la chasse après la deuxième des quatre ascensions du jour. Il était déjà trop tard pour priver Ben King d'un nouveau succès, un an après avoir remporté la première étape du Critérium international. Les sprinteurs emmenés par Alexander Kristof (Team KATUSHA), troisième devant Sagan, ont finalement échoué à huit secondes du duo de tête.
De retour sur un podium quatre mois après une fracture du péroné, Benjamin King s'apprête désormais à affronter l'étape-reine de ce 11ème Amgen Tour of California, mardi entre Thousand Oaks et Santa Barbara County (167,5 km). Discret mais toujours dans le coup, Julian Alaphillipe (Etixx-Quick Step) est prêt à se mesurer aux pourcentages du mont Gibraltar (11 km à 8%) un an après sa victoire sur les pentes du mont Baldy. Placé à 24 secondes du nouveau leader, comme Phinney, Van Avermaet, Van den Broeck, Ten Dam, Sanchez, Teklehaimanot ou Talansky, le Français est cependant loin d'être le seul à rêver d'un succès de prestige pour prendre les commandes de l'Amgen Tour of California.
ENGLISH TEXT :Stage 2 of the 2016 Amgen Tour of California was expected to end with one of the epic sprinter shootouts the race has become known for as the peloton of 144 world-class riders took off from South Pasadena today for a 92.3-mile twisting, turning up- and downhill ride to Santa Clarita. But bearing down on the finish line, it was a battle of just two U.S. riders who had spent most of the day out ahead of the field with Cannondale Pro Cycling Team’s Benjamin King (Charlottesville, Virginia), a 2010 U.S. National Champion, just besting Rally Cycling’s Evan Huffman (Elk Grove, Calif.).
“I knew Evan was a pretty quick sprinter. He smoked me in both of the King of the Mountain sprints, so I was hesitant to let it come down to a sprint,” said King. “I couldn’t drop him on the climb, so in the end we both fully committed to make the breakaway stick to the finish, and in the end, Evan let out the sprint, and I was able to come around him in the finish.” After several attempts to get a breakaway going, finally a group of four that also contained Team Giant-Alpecin’s Sindre Skjoestad Lunke (NOR) and another U.S. rider Axeon Hagens Berman’s Will Barta (Boise, Idaho), the second youngest rider in the race at 20, made it clear from the field more than an hour into the race.
The breakaway group containing King, who is coming back from a broken fibula after a January fall, had racked up a 7.5-minute lead over peloton by mid-race. The peloton started reeling them back on the decent of the second of four KOMs in the Angeles National Forest, where speeds reached upwards of 50 mph. With 10 miles left to ride, Team KATUSHA led the chase to catch the four leaders, angling to position their star sprinter Alexander Kristoff (NOR), and bringing the gap down to less than two minutes. Race leader and World Champion Peter Sagan (SVK) of Tinkoff rode in the main chase group wearing the yellow jersey he earned yesterday in San Diego, as did Team Giant-Alpecin’s John Degenkolb (GER) and Trek-Segafredo’s Santa Rosa-based rider Peter Stetina, both of whom are coming back from career-threatening injuries themselves.
However, the two remaining in the breakaway were able to hold their lead, which stood at 20 seconds on the chase group and one minute on the field with one mile left to ride. With the finish in sight, the Rally rider attacked first, only to be overtaken in the final meters. King, at age 27, is the first U.S. rider to win a stage at the Amgen Tour of California since BMC Racing Team’s Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo.) took Stage 5 in 2014. Still in the wings, Kristoff rode across the finish in third place for today’s stage. Huffman earned the Lexus King of the Mountain (KOM) Jersey on the hilly route, a good warm-up for the cyclists who must face the infamous Gibraltar Road at the close of tomorrow’s s
Benjamin King Win the Second Stage - Amgen Tour of California Photogallery : Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images Ezra Shaw/Getty Images - Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images Brian Hodes/Velo Images
