Kasper Asgreen fires up in final moments to seize stage two victory in California

Deceuninck-Quick-Step’s Kasper Asgreen won stage two of the Tour of California as the riders completed the first mountain section of this year’s race.

The 24-year-old Dane opened up a gap in the final few hundred metres after a hard day that travelled 214.5km from Rancho Cordova to South Lake Tahoe and included more than 14,500ft of climbing.

The final climb came down to four riders – Asgreen, Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First), Gianni Moscon (Ineos) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) – with van Garderen leading the attack.

Tejay Van Garderen, left, Asgreen and Gianni Moscon, right

Image credit: Getty Images

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But on the final turn, Asgreen accelerated to cross the finish line first in six hours, 17 minutes and 11 seconds, with van Garderen taking second place and Moscon – four seconds back – rounding out the podium in third.

Despite not claiming the stage win, 2013 champion van Garderen moved to the top of the general classification, holding a six-second lead over Moscon, and Asgreen a further second down.

Overnight leader Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) was one of several sprinters to struggle through the mountain stage, dropping down to 67th in the overall standings.

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