His training had worked for him and Pello Bilbao knew how to finish the job perfectly. Well launched in the final of these 154 km disputed between San Martino di Castrozza and Lana, the leader of the Bahrain Victorious knew how to be the strongest and crossed the line with a comfortable lead over Romain Bardet (AG2R Citroën) and Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ). In addition to winning this second stage of the Tour des Alpes, he pocketed the leader’s jersey. Bardet in good shape In this short stage with three passes on the program, a group of eleven men broke away on the first ascent. Pavel Sivakov (Ineps) and Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ) were the last two of these fugitives to be caught by a peloton reduced to around fifteen riders, including four Bahrain Victorious who had taken charge of the pursuit. There was then a little less than 10 km to go and those who remained explained themselves in the false final flat. Expected after the work of his teammates, Bilbao was able to transform the test. Second in the first stage, he took the leader’s jersey from Geoffrey Bouchard, relegated to around thirty seconds on the line. Overall, the Spaniard’s heir apparent is Romain Bardet (+0”06). The Frenchman, third on Monday, this time failed at the foot of the first step but he confirmed his good form. “It’s good, even if I wanted to do a little better. Bilbao is fast but I didn’t start on the right side,” he said once he crossed the line.