BRUSSELS – Tour de France organizers are hoping the second stage of this year’s race gives fans a taste of the hugely popular Ardennes classics.

But for some, the undulating 201 kilometer ride from Brussels to Spa is perhaps not tough enough to totally rule out the possibility of a bunch sprint.

It features a total of six punchy climbs, most of which are in the latter half of the course, meaning the ‘punchers’ like Damiano Cunego and Cadel Evans, and purer climbers like Andy Schleck, should harbour personal ambitions.

Two of those climbs, the Stockeu and the Rosier, are regulars on Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the oldest one-day classic in the world, with the summit of the latter climb around 12 kms from the finish.

The final descent towards the line means that attacks on the last two climbs could go all the way, significantly reducing the chances of the stage ending in a bunch sprint.

BMC team manager John Lelangue believes that the organizers have taken the soft option by allowing the peloton to attack Stockeu and Rosier by their least difficult approaches.

Still, he has not totally ruled out the fast men of the peloton – traditionally among the worst climbers – clinging on for dear life in a bid to
snatch one of the few sprint stages available in the first week.

“We’ve reconnoitered a lot of the hardest stages in this first week, but personally I would have preferred stage two to be a little bit more
difficult,” said Lelangue, whose star rider is Australia’s world champion Evans.

“They’ve chosen the easiest approaches to both the Stockeu and the Rosier. It’s very a fast ride down from the Rosier to the finish, but whether that gives the sprinters a chance to get back to the front in time remains to be seen.”

Evans, a two-time Tour runner-up in 2007 and 2008, won the Fleche-Wallonne semi-classic earlier this season, a race which ends on the steep pitches of the Mur de Huy, while Cunego is a former winner of the nearby Amstel Gold Race.

Russian dueo Alexandre Kolobnev and Serguei Ivanov, of Katusha, should also be in the mix with Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel likely to be under orders from bosses of his Belgian Quick Step team to give it his best.

Schleck, however, has more reason than most to challenge for a stage win which is well within his capabilities.

The Luxemburger, who is regarded as the main challenger to reigning champion Alberto Contador after his runner-up place in 2009, lost nearly a minute to the Spaniard after a disastrous performance in the opening prologue on Saturday.

Article: AFP by Justin Davis