Australian rider Michael Matthews started off his Tour de Suisse campaign strongly with a promising ride on the second stage, sprinting to second place in a fast and technical finale.
The day was animated by a breakaway group of four riders heading up the road and as the peloton barrelled towards the finish line in Regensdorf, the leaders held on to a one-minute advantage.
Local Swiss rider Mauro Schmid was attentive at the head of the peloton following moves as soon as the final breakaway rider was reeled in with around 10km remaining. In the end, despite a flurry of late attacks the stage came down to a fast sprint with numerous corners inside the final kilometres.
Matthews headed around the final bend with 500metres to go in fifth position and was able to launch past all riders in front of him except one, Coquard who jumped early and denied the Team Jayco AlUla rider the victory.
Matthews now sits in fifth place on the general classification with Schmid in ninth after yesterday’s time trial stage.
Michael Matthews – 2nd
“I think today was good, it was a pretty crazy day until the final. We knew it was going to be a pretty hard, exciting final and that’s exactly what happened. We had three of us really in the race coming into final with Mauro and Anders. Mauro was covering moves towards the end there and that set me up well for a sprint and I finished in second. I think it’s a good bounce back off Gippingen where I crashed and yesterday, to be back on the podium today, and hopefully we can keep moving on from here.”
2024 Tour de Suisse – stage 2 results:
1. Bryan Coquard 4:06:39
2. Michael Matthews (Team Jayco AlUla) ST
3. Arnaud de Lie ST
2024 Tour de Suisse – general classification after stage 2:
1. Yves Lampard 4:11:44
5. Michael Matthews (Team Jayco AlUla) +0:07
9. Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) +0:09
Photo: Sprint Cycling
