Italy rules over Thursdays' stages

Roudnice nad Labem – Thursday was a good day for Italy in the Junior Peace Race. Before noon Antonio Tiberi won the individual TT, and in the afternoon the Italians get a double in the Roudnice nad Labem stage. In the bunch sprint the fastest man was Tomas Trainini ahead of Francesco Della Lunga.

            The Roudnice nad Labem stage was a rather flat course. There were few attempts to form a breakaway, but none lasted. Therefore the spectators in the finish saw a sprint of the whole peloton for the first place, in which the Italians dominated. The Italian duo was accompanied at the podium by Paul Penhoet of France.

"It the last kilometers it was very difficult fight for positions. In the last hundreds of meters we had a nice battle, won by Tomas, and I followed second. We are happy with the result." summed up the race finale Francesco Della Lunga, greeting his teammate Trainini. Ha adds: "today suited us well, but tomorrow will be a very different story for the two of us. Nevertheless, in the team there are others who can excel in the mountains and I hope we will stay on the winning note."

            The yellow jersey remains in possession of Hugo Toumire, the winner of the first stage. He managed to defend it both, in the ITT in the morning and the afternoon stage. The French rider has an advantage of eight seconds over the second Balerstedt of Germany. Mathias Vacek from czech republic is eleventh, less than 45 seconds behind. "The boys are following the instructions well so far. Lets see what they show tomorrow." Tomáš Konečný, the czech national team manager offers an elusive comment.

            Indeed, the Saturday's stage, dubbed the queen stage for the difficult profile, will probably stir up things. The finish is in Germany, in Altenberg and by the time the rider reach it they will have to climb to Vitiška twice.

Results – Stage 2b (80.4 km):
1. Tomas Trainini (ITA) 1:53:09
2. Francesco Della Lunga (ITA) 
3. Paul Penhoet (FRA)
4. Casper van Uden (NED)
5. Robin Juel Skivild (DEN) 
12. Pavel Bittner (CZE) – všichni stejný čas

Overall after stage 2b:
1. Hugo Toumire (FRA) 4:40:27
2. Maurice Balerstedt (GER) +0:08
3. Andrea Piccolo (Ita) +0:18
4. William Blume Levy (DEN) +0:18
5. Casper van Uden (NED) +0:22
11. Mathias Vacek (CZE) +0:43