Frank climbs to stage 2 victory at Bayern Rundfahrt

Mathias Frank (IAM) won the queen stage of the Bayern Rundfahrt today and is now in a good position to win the race overall. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) would finish 2nd on the stage while Leopold Konig (NetApp – Endura) rounded out the podium in 3rd place. Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung had Louis Meintjes finish as its highest placed rider on the stage today in 25th.

Just as in yesterdays stage, riders were greeted with consistent rainfall throughout the stage. The early racing saw Biel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale), Sam Bennett (NetApp Endura), Christian Meier (Orica Greenedge) and Anthony Delaplace (FDJ.fr) escape from the peloton and forge out a lead just over 5 minutes. As the race hit the first Cat 1 climb of the day the peloton really ramped up the pace and this saw 25 riders reeling in the escapees with still 70 odd km to go.

There was somewhat of a regrouping as the race rolled along towards the final finishing climbs but a group of at least 40 riders would not see the front of the race again. FDJ, MTN-Qhubeka and Team Sky would do a lot of the pace setting in the final hour of racing, making sure no other dangerous break could form and the stage could be decided on the final climb. FDJ were the initial aggressors on the final climb but it was the attack of Frank that would count as the rest of the peloton fought its way to the line.

Rider – Louis Meintjes