UAE Team Emirates' Marc Hirschi launched a stinging attack in the final kilometre of stage 2 at the Czech Tour to seal the victory and the yellow jersey, marking the team's 60th win of this season.
The Swiss puncher bided his time on the summit finish of Pustevny, hitting out from a reduced group to haul back an earlier attack by Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-firm tech) in the finale and taking an emphatic win, the 16th of his career.
Diego Ulissi was close behind in 2nd place at 11", with Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) rounding out the podium at 14".
Hirschi said, "It was super hard because also the break didn't go until 70km of racing, and then it was a hard climb, which we did twice. But I had super good legs, and I could make the difference in the last kilometre. The idea was to keep it all together for me and Ulissi, wait on the climb until the end, and wait to see if the legs were good."
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