Felline Time Trials to Victory in Stage 2 of Criterium International

News & Results

03/29/2015| 0 comments
by Mark Watson
Fabio Felline has won stage 2 of Criterium International 2015 A.S.O.

Felline Time Trials to Victory in Stage 2 of Criterium International

#Criterium #CriteriumInternational Italian Fabio Felline has won stage 2 of Criterium International 2015.
Stage two of the legendary Critérium International, a seven kilometer individual time trial, was won by Italian Fabio Felline of Trek Factory Racing. Felline took the victory ahead of teammate Bob Jungels and Manuele Boaro of Team Tinkoff Bank - Saxo Bank. Winner of stage 1 earlier today, Benjamin King remains overall Criterium International leader for Team Cannondale-Garmin powered by POC, but will be under serious pressure from the Trek Factory Racing duo in Sunday's final stage 3, which concludes on the famous Col de l’Ospedale.
 
Spectators were forced to wait until the closing moments of the day’s individual time trial, contested on a 7 kilometer course around Porto-Vecchio, to have a better idea of the hierarchy before tomorrow's stage 3. Placed eleventh following this morning's stage 1, Felline eventually proved to be the fastest of the 116 professional cyclists still in contention. The Italian, who had already conquered the Circuit de Lorraine in 2010 and the Giro Dell’Appennino in 2012, captured a prestigious victory by clocking a finish time of 09:11.
 
At the end of the stage, the Torino-born rider and 2008 U23 Italian national time trial champion, beat his teammate Bob Jungels by just one second and time trial specialist Manuele Boaro by two seconds. Having seriously improved in such contre-la-montre events, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), who finished third overall in last year's Tour de France, managed to conquer an impressive 4th position in the stage rankings, only six seconds behind the stage winner.
 
Winner of the morning stage and making the best of his 48 second lead on the main peloton group of the day, Benjamin King (Team Cannondale-Garmin protected by POC) finished the time trial in 19th position. By finishing just 21 seconds behind winner Felline, King was able to keep the yellow jersey as overall leader of Criterium International 2015. The American will have a slight 24 second advantage on Saint-Martin (M13) and 27 seconds and 28 seconds on tailing Felline and Jungels when he takes off for the final mountainous stage of the event, concluding on the Col de l’Ospedale where the Cannondale-Garmin rider is hoping to be crowned King of Corsica and Criterium International.
 
Also within shooting distance, Pinot is just 32 seconds behind and definitely in contention for the overall Criterium International win. King keeps command of the points classification and king of the mountain standings, while Saint-Martin will be wearing the best young rider’s white jersey in Sunday's 189.5 kilometer stage.
 
Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com to find out if American Ben King will take the overall victory or be beaten by one of his competitors. Until then, order cycling products in our bike shop and sign up for a training log as used by Team Sky, Tinkoff-Saxo and Orica-GreenEdge pros.
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