Stage 2: Obernai to Esch-sur-Alzette – 228.5km
- By VeloNews.com
- Published Jul. 3, 2006
Course: The Tour’s second longest stage (228.5km) opens with two significant Cat. 3 climbs in the forested hills of the Vosges and closes with two shorter Cat. 4 climbs on the France-Luxembourg border just before the finish. In between is 150km of rolling terrain through the agricultural Lorraine region. There’s bound to be an early breakaway on such a long stage, but the straight wide roads favor the sprinters’ teams in pulling things back together before the final 20km. The two Cat. 4 climbs with 16km and 13.5km to go, followed by two smaller, unrated ones in the last 5km, could spawn a break by a small group.
History: The Luxembourg steel town of Esch-sur-Alzette, celebrating its centennial this year, has hosted only one previous stage finish. That was in 1968, when the race was last contested by national teams (not sponsored trade teams). The stage winner, who also took the prologue at Vittel the day before, was French “B” team rider Charly Grosskost, who came from the Alsace-Lorraine region. He out-sprinted a breakaway group of six, a minute ahead of the peloton.
Favorites: Sprinters Boonen, McEwen, Hushovd and Zabel should contest the win, but a late break might favor attackers like Italian Filippo Pozzato (Quick Step) or Luxembourgers Kim Kirchen (T-Mobile) and Fränk Schleck (CSC).
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