August 1, 2008 (Val-d’Or, QC) – In the final seconds of Stage 2 Oleksandr Shapoval of the Ukraine took today’s race that was run on the streets of Val-d’Or, beginning and ending at the Belvedere. This second stage of the Coupe des Nations was less gripping than yesterday’s, with no clear breakaways in any of the 12 laps around the city.

Arnaud Demare (France) was sure that he had overtaken Shapoval at the finish line, but the photo-finish proved him wrong. Shapoval had initiated his sprint slightly before his pursuers followed in kind. Fabio Silvestre of Portugal came in third, hard on the heels of the first two cyclists. The twelve laps totalling 95.1km were completed in 2 hours 10 minutes 34 seconds by the majority of the riders.

A crash between two of the competitors in the last lap of the race caused more alarm than damage. One of the cyclists veered off the road and into the spectators who were lining the route. No one was badly injured.

The individual time trial will be held tomorrow afternoon over a distance of 17.1km between St. Maurice and Amos. This will undoubtedly play a major role in determination of the overall classification, as the Coupe des Nations Abitibi 2008 consists of only four stages.

*Fans no doubt read about the breakaway during yesterday’s race. The 12 riders involved including the winner Nick Aitken, had a 49-second lead on the rest of the pack which accounts for the large gap in the cumulative points classification.

Brown jersey (individual leader)
* Nick Aitken (Australia)
Orange jersey (points leader)
* Nick Aitken (Australia)

Full results pdf here.

GC after Stage 2 pdf here.

Results

1. Olexsandr Shapoval (Ukraine) 2 :10 :34 h
2. Arnaud Demare (France) s.t.
3. Fabio Silvestre (Portugal) s.t.
4. David Boily (Canada 2)
5. Boris Zimine (France) s.t.
6. Ben Grenda (Autralia) s.t.
7. Jamie Crass (Australia) s.t.
8. Hugo Houle (Canada 1)
9. Bruno Faria (Portugal) s.t.
10. Larry Warbasse (USA) s.t.

GC after Stage 2

1. Nick Aitken (Australia) 4:27:36 h.
2. Ruslan Abdulmanov (Kazakhstan) at 5 secs
3. Pierrick Naud (Canada) 7 secs
4. Nathan Brown (USA ) at 11 secs
5. Larry Warbasse (USA) s.t.
6. Florent Brochard (France) s.t.
7. Oleg Solomko (Ukraine) s.t.
8. Dustin Andrews (Canada 1)
9. Daniel McIntyre (Australia) s.t.
10. Daniil Fominykh (Kazakhstan) at 14 secs

Complete results : www.tourabitibi.qc.ca