Finally, the breakaway's day out front was ended with 19km to go. Unlike on stage 1 though, where the end of the break proceeded an intense fight before the final sprint, on stage 2, the punchy, uphill finale ensured the likelihood of an entire peloton coming to the line together was slim.
The first big attack on the climb came from Israel - Premier Tech's Derek Gee, with the Canadian's move immediately putting race leader Magnus Cort Nielsen into difficulty. In total, only five riders were able to live with Gee's attack as Davide Piganzoli, Remy Rochas, Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda, Mauri Vansevenant and the Maillot Jaune's
Uno-X Mobility teammate Andreas Kron.
Impressively though, with 6km to go, the rest of the Uno-X team had managed to drag Magnus Cort Nielsen back to the head of the race, swallowing up the Gee-led attack. Almost immediately though, the attacks started right back up again. As the final climb began, French youngster Maxime Decomble was dangling narrowly out in front of the Uno-X train. Inside 2km to go he was still 5 seconds clear, but at 1.1km to go, Decomble's brave move was over.
The came the fight for the stage win. In a reduced uphill sprint, Magnus Cort Nielsen stormed to the victory yet again ahead of
Martin Marcellusi and
Carlos Canal, extending his GC lead in the process.