A group sprint was expected, but instead in Vitry en Charollais, the finish of the second stage of the 2025 Tour de l'Avenir, a group of 19 attackers arrived, won by British rider Elliot Rowe. The 19-year-old athlete with Visma Lease a Bike Development beat German Louis Leidert in the sprint and Luxembourg's Alexandre Kess, who completed the 136 kilometers in third position. Filippo Turconi, the top Italian, animated the decisive breakaway and finished eighth; behind him were Austrian Feurstein and Frenchman Decomble, the new overall leader ahead of Dane Dalby and Australian Ward.

Today's stage saw many attackers, but we had to wait until mid-race to see the first real breakaway of the day. Immediately after the start from Saint Symphorien sur Coise, Alessandro Borgo took the initiative, breaking away from the group with about ten other riders; the Italian champion also secured a handful of points for the special climbers' classification by crossing the Saint-Laurent GPM in third position, won by Pole Goszczurny.

Approaching the Côte de Machézal, yesterday's winner Noah Hobbs and Marco Schrettl tried to break away, with the Austrian being the first to summit the second climb of the day. The approach to the Côte de Coutouvre favored the formation of a group of twenty attackers: Turconi (Italy), Rowe (Great Britain), Aznar (Spain), van Zanden (Netherlands), Decomble (France), Lesueur (France), Basset (France), Dalby (Denmark), Wallenborn (Luxembourg), Kess (Luxembourg), Ward (Australia), Huber (Switzerland), Přidal (Czech Republic), Feurstein (Austria), Rex (Belgium), Gruszczynski (Poland), Marolt (Slovenia), Koech (Germany), Leidert (Germany) and Sandstad (Norway).

These attackers pedaled in agreement, managing to gain over 3 minutes. Rowe won the Intermediate Sprint in Saint Christophe en Brionnais, and subsequently the harmony among the breakaway riders ended: Huber and Marolt tried a solo attack, while Basset couldn't maintain the pace of the lead group.

With 5 kilometers to go, the breakaway was reported at 2'55" ahead of the main group led by Italy and Norway, with France breaking the turns. In the final 2 kilometers, several attacks occurred with Turconi being very active, but Rowe's sprint ultimately decided the finish, bringing the British team's stage wins to two in this edition of the Tour de l'Avenir after his teammate Hobbs' victory yesterday.

The race will continue tomorrow with the 158 kilometers between Etang sur Arroux and Châtillon sur Chalaronne.

STAGE RESULTS

1 Rowe Elliot Great Britain 02:59:02

2 Leidert Louis Germany ,,

3 Kess Alexandre Luxembourg ,,

4 Přidal Tomáš Czech Republic ,,

5 Dalby Simon Denmark ,,

6 Utengen Sandstad Halvor Norway ,,

7 Aznar Hugo Spain ,,

8 Turconi Filippo Italy ,,

9 Feurstein Kilian Austria ,,

10 Decomble Maxime France ,,

11 Lesueur Louka France ,,

12 Rex Tim Belgium ,,

13 Koech Silas Germany ,,

14 Huber Jan Switzerland ,,

15 van Zanden Otto Netherlands ,,

16 Marolt Jaka Slovenia ,,

17 Wallenborn Arno Luxembourg ,,

18 Gruszczynski Filip Poland ,,

19 Ward Jack Australia ,,

20 Bévort Carl-Frederik Denmark 02:27

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