Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) won stage 2 of the Czech Tour at the summit finish of Pustevny, taking over the overall race lead in the process.
The Swiss rider scored the 16th victory of his pro career at the top of the mountain, heading up a UAE one-two with teammate Diego Ulissi, who finished 11 seconds further back. Sergio Higuita (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) rounded out the top three at 14 seconds down.
Hirschi made his winning move with a kilometre to go in the 173km stage, which included two ascents of the Pustevny climb. His move saw him bring back Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), who had gone clear heading into the final 2km.
Hirschi pushed on past the American, with several other top riders, including Higuita, chasing further back. But it wasn't to be for the men pursuing Hirschi, who held a solid gap heading towards the finish, where he held on to take his second win of 2024.
Vermaerke ended up in fourth place at 17 seconds along with a select group of chasers, including Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep).
Hirschi now leads Ulissi by 15 seconds on the general classification with two of the four stages completed. Higuita lies third overall at 20 seconds, while Vermaerke is fourth at 27 seconds.
Earlier in the day, a breakaway quartet of Charles Paide (TDT-Unibet), Javier Serrano (Polti-Kometa), Michal Schuran (ATT Investments) and André-Pier Côté (Israel-Premier Tech Academy) had broken clear to form the breakaway of the stage, albeit after a flurry of attacks that filled the opening kilometres of the day.
The group didn't build a big lead on the peloton, however, and they'd be brought back into the fold on the first of the stage's two ascents of Pustevny, some 40km from home.
Attacks on that climb came from Paul Double (Polti-Kometa), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), and Ben Zwiehoff (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), with several others coming across the gap after the climb.
However, with Soudal-QuickStep taking the lead at the head of the peloton, and only a small gap to the attackers, the move was short-lived. At the base of the 9.5km, 5.7% climb to the finish, a reduced peloton led the way towards the fight for stage victory.
On the climb it was Tudor Pro Cycling who had controlled the pace, looking to set up a move from their climber Michael Storer. The Australian made his attack 4km from the finish, but couldn't quite break clear despite his attack. His move was countered by Vermaerke, whose jump set up the stage finale.
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