Stage 2 of the FRR „Tour France“ took us over the Casse Pattes route in Zwift’s France world — 35km of rolling terrain with the decisive Petit KOM and a sprint finish. After our team dominated Stage 1, all eyes were on the GC. This time it was a tactical race from the start!
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Music (Outro): Alex Guz – Retro Pop Funk
00:00 – Intro & Route
00:21 – Startlist
00:34 – First Attacks
04:13 – Petit KOM
05:05 – 15KM To Go
06:49 – 3KM To Go
08:19 – Results
08:38 – Data Analyses
09:04 – FRR Standings
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Yo riders, Manuel here, Savos from the Pancave. Stage two of the F FRR2 France takes us to the Kaspati route. 35 km with 200 meters of climbing, including the Petit KM, which should guarantee a tactical and explosive race. Let’s take a look at the riders lining up in the A category. Tommy Evans, an Irish Swift legend, is riding alongside me today in my team. He’s a super strong climber. Then we also got the super sprinter in the likes of Denanish Mgard and I’m not too far off. So let’s see what we can cook today. So we are off and I’m motivated after the win the day before Saturday evening. So this is s Sunday morning then. Let’s see what the legs will kinder yeah how the legs will kinder answer to yesterday’s effort. And the the race was long but it was not too hard. You see I’m having some gummy bears here. First attacks are coming in. And you see it here on the right. There’s a few what team tags and so they are definitely outnumbering all the other riders today and I think they kind of chain um joined late and wanted to surprise us and they are cooking something that’s for sure because they are attacking all over the place and yeah I can I can definitely remember yesterday’s race and I know we got to cover that like we cannot let one of these guys go because especially not two of them because then they will kind of sit up in the in the palaton and it will be hard to arrange. Um, yeah, group of guys working together. So, here you can see they are working together here, trying to break away here from the group, but I’m on a mission. I didn’t want to let them go. You see, they’re uh attacking left, right, and center. Always another guy, but we are all kind of active and no one wants to let them go. I’m also like always there trying to to chase these guys. Another attack is coming in. At this point, I was talking to Tommy here and he was like, “No stress. like just chill. Uh he’s a lot exper more experienced than me for sure. Uh but I knew like he’s he’s like our guy here. So I want to put in the effort to stay together and yeah because again like if we let one of these guys go they will sit up they will not work in the paraton and it will be up to us to yeah kind of bridge bridge to to the front. And this is something I wanted to avoid like I wanted to be in the move like I wanted to be active. I wanted to be there if there’s something happening. H was asking me like who is the who’s the best guy of these I wanted to check during the race but yeah then I found out like they are not in the start list. So seems they really joined late and you see here I just I anticipated here another attack by Merans or yeah Merrans is the guy the Belgian guy who is on the attack. I bridged him. Another guy is following. So they were really really active in these first 10 kilometers. As you can see, it’s not too fast. Like we almost we always kind of slowed down after these attacks. So we are just at um 3.9 ws per kilogram average at this point. Um but yeah, again like I I knew if we let someone go, it will be hard to get them back to um yeah, to catch them back. So, I always wanted to to be um yeah, be at the front like don’t miss any move and just follow all the attacks. And yeah, we reached the first sprint segment here. That was a bit spicy, I can tell you. You could see like a lot of red numbers. And I just I’m not going for any any classifications like the Pola Dot um mountains um KM jersey or the sprint jersey. So, I just want you to to stay with the group. So here I was also like expecting some moves but not this time. I mean they are kind of accelerating here on top of the climb but yeah I’m there. I I won’t let I’m really really focused. I’m I’m trying not to to miss any any attacks and always try to be there because I mean I also like that the day before like yesterday. So another attack and I’m trying to cover once again here. Most guard um yeah the strong sprinter is on the move but yeah I’m with him I won’t let him go. I feel like this is I mean you can you can tell me is it better to react or or let others do the work. So you see we are reaching petite kam 2.7 kilometers at 4% average gradient and here I was expecting fireworks for sure especially from the wet guys. We haven’t seen them in a while. So what are they cooking now? like it seems that was kind of the starters and now we’re ready for the main course. So the first um orange gradients are done. Now we’re in this flatter section. I’m already suffering pretty hard. Yes, you can see 188 beats per minute heart rate. Um I’m just waiting for the top of the climb. You see I did it here in 5 minutes 14. No top three um effort for me. 328 ws. My teammate Michael is also like encouraging me to keep on going because he was watching the race and he could see that I’m suffering and it was really close. Can I close down the gap? Tommy is also here. He’s closing down the gap and I’m really fighting hard. You see, I’m still pushing five watts per kg and I can manage to close down the gap. was so important because that’s very dangerous that you you’re caught in a split and you will never be able to to to get back there or like in the setl when I kind of yeah was fighting all the time to just get back there but yeah we managed to stay with the front group over the pedit kom that’s already a great success for me and you see more attacks are coming in here and um I could see that there’s a dragon attacking so this is not really important for us like other dragons should follow because they’re like not in our category. So if they kind of yeah break away, it doesn’t really matter. Um yeah, so far everything’s under control. 6.6 kilometers to go. Tommy is also here. He was like, “Oh, it’s it’s fine for him.” Just saying that right now. Then he is he is accelerating at this point. He’s um putting in an attack, testing the legs of the other guys. So, he was he was telling me, you could see it probably in the chat, like he saves his legs for tomorrow for the ITT. And yeah, but it seems he was he was a bit too bored, so he gave it a try to see if they will they will follow him or not. And another attack is coming in here by Tommy. He’s showing some good lags as it seems. And yeah, I I will definitely not follow them. Like I will definitely not close down the gap. But of course, if the other guys are moving, then I also need to to move. Um but yeah, it’s of course always always important to not close down any gaps um from your teammates. Like don’t take any any any um opponents in your draft and and follow your teammate. That’s always rule number one of the um yeah book of cycling. All right, we are approaching the final two kilometers again. No moves. Now you see Mati Patram. He is also like friend of our our team and he’s also dragon. also decide like I don’t need to to follow this move. He’s not a danger for me and for for our category but then there’s more attacks more attacks coming in. So of course I will also try to jump and close down the gaps and they ease off and that gives Mati the chance to break away at this point. Um no one wants to chase down um Mati also like have no interest in doing so. He can win the race. He will not be in our category. And yeah he manages to break away. He has already got a gap of four 5 seconds with 700 meters to go. And who is doing the first move here from the palaton? 500 meters to go. Everyone is in position. I’m also waiting for the sprint focused. Five watts per kg. Who is starting first? 400 meters to go. But he is 7 seconds ahead. So he will take the win of the race. Uh but yeah, it’s still like for our category there is still this stage stage win up for for take. And you see Meritans is opening up the sprint. There is also Tommy sprinting. I’m also going here with 715 watts, 11 ws per kg. Now I’m really starting to sprint here with 13 ws per kg. Muskard is coming from behind. He’s overtaking me with 30 m to go and I cannot really catch him. Really, really close. 0.1 second in the end of the win of my category. Third place in the race. Second place in this category. So congrats to Mati who is taking the race win. And yeah, third place for me, fifth place for Tommy. Also great result. Um, yeah, it was not too hard to race. 3.9 WS per kg average. You also see here I was suffering on the petite ki was pretty easy. Like I also decided, okay, that’s fine. Like I will do a few like attacks, but I can also save my legs for tomorrow’s ITTP. So that’s also why not close to any PBS, but that’s not because I didn’t have the lags, but just because the race didn’t didn’t offer these opportunities, which is fine because we have a lot of racing to come. That was very tactical. Once again, still enjoyed that. And here’s the big surprise. I’m leading the GC after winning stage one and only losing 0.1 seconds uh EGAP in stage two. I am actually leading the GC. Like, what a great surprise. Like, I didn’t see that coming. That’s like a big success for me. I mean, obviously, I will not be able to hold that after the time trial, but still just just being in the lead. Never saw that coming, especially two days ago. Like, I didn’t even plan to do this race because I kind of felt tired after, yeah, lots of lots of of work the week before and and some events that I had. So, yeah, you see, I’m absolutely happy with second place also that in my category. Let’s see what the time trial will bring. That will be the first test for me to really like give everything all out for 30 minutes. And yeah, let’s see what my legs will will answer to the f after the first two stages. If you enjoyed the tactics and tension of this one, make sure to like, comment, and subscribe for more FRR stage coverage. Are you racing the FR Tour France yourself? Let me know in the comments. See you in the next one. Cheers and ride on. [Music] W. [Music] Cool.
2 Comments
Covered (almost) all the attacks… smart or waste of energy? What would you have done differently?
Oh wow! Well done on the Petit KOM!