Colin Joyce made it back-to-back top 10s at Tour Poitou Charentes when he sprinted to sixth place on stage 2. Joyce finished behind 2020 Rally Cycling trainee Jason Tesson (St Michel – Auber 93) who won the sprint ahead of Elia Viviani (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits).
Not only was Joyce sixth on the stage but the result means that he moved up two places and into sixth overall on GC.
The team was fighting for the head of the race inside the last kilometer with Pier-André Coté acting as Joyce’s lead-out man before the charging Cofidis, Solutions Crédits train triggered the sprint. The Canadian went on to finish 14th.
Joyce is doing his best to feature in the bunch kicks after Arvid de Kleijn crashed out on stage 1.
“Unfortunately, we lost Arvid yesterday so that was a big bummer for us. He has been riding well and could have definitely been in the mix for the win in most of the stages here,” Joyce said at the finish.
Despite the lack of the fast-finishing Dutchman de Kleijn, the team did a superb job to deliver Joyce into a prime position for the final run to the line.
“The team has been riding well together and constantly fighting for the front. All these guys are really solid bike racers so it’s nice to have them and we’re working well together.”
Just like stage 1, there was plenty of jeopardy on the 191.6km road from Parthenay to Ruffec. Although it was a picture-perfect day in Western France, the peloton was split numerous times in the blustering crosswinds. There was also the small question of avoiding a crash inside the last 10-kilometers.
Joyce described it as a “pretty hectic route with small roads and crosswinds all day so you had to be focused the whole stage.”
Another top 10 is a sign that Joyce is in a rich vein of sprinting form. With opportunities to come in the coming days, there is still much to get from the race for the Idaho native.
“We’ll take it one stage at a time and continue to give it our best.”
Tomorrow’s action is in two parts. Stage 3a is 109.6km in length and is another chance for the sprinters to get their arms in the air. The riders will then swap bikes and contend with a 23.5km time-trial which is sure to have a huge impact on the final standings. You can watch all the action on the Tour Poitou-Charentes Facebook page.
Stage 2 results
1 TESSON Jason – St Michel – Auber93 4:27:00
2 VIVIANI Elia – Cofidis, Solutions Crédits ”
3 DE BIE Sean – Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB ”
4 TURGIS Anthony – Team TotalEnergies ”
5 SARREAU Marc – AG2R Citroën Team ”
6 JOYCE Colin – Rally Cycling ”
7 RAJOVIĆ Dušan – Delko ”
8 BOUDAT Thomas – Team Arkéa Samsic ”
9 BELLETTI Manuel – EOLO-Kometa ”
10 SWIFT Connor – Team Arkéa Samsic ”
11 BONNAMOUR Franck – B&B Hotels p/b KTM ”
12 ANGULO Antonio – Euskatel – Euskadi ”
13 CONSONNI Simone – Cofidis, Solutions Crédits ”
14 COTÉ Pier-André – Rally Cycling ”
15 LONARDI Giovanni – Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè ”
