Tomasz Brozyna (Action ATI) took the yellow leader's jersey from Ivan Dominguez (Colavita Olive Oil) on day two of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce, after an early race split in the field reduced the number of contenders dramatically.

Brozyna won the 180-kilometer stage in front of Viktor Rapinski (Navigators) and Radoslaw Romanik (Hoop CCC Polsat), while Dominguez finished a whopping 17:36 back with the decimated main peloton.

Stage two was packed with the kind of terrain Beauce is infamous for a seemingly unending series of two- and three-kilometer climbs of seven and eight percent. Eric Wohlberg (Canadian National), a veteran of Beauce (who won the overall title in 1995), said he liked the promoters decision to bring the race back to its roots.

"This is like Beauce of the past. Recently they've thrown in a flat stage or two, but now it is day-after-day of grinding, like they want us all to finish in body bags," Wohlberg quipped.

The action started almost immediately, as riders tried to get in good position for the first major climb of the day, 15 kilometers into the stage. On that climb, in Beauceville, five riders created a small gap by the summit, only to be joined by a few more, and then a few more again.

The hills did their part to sort out the race

Photo: Robert Jones

Before they knew it, the group was 17 riders strong, with nine teams represented.

All the top teams had the move covered, with three from Action ATI, including Brozyna, three from Hoop CCC, two from Health Net (Scott Moninger and Mike Jones), two from Navigators (Ciaran Power, Jeff Louder), two from the German squad Winfix Arnolds (Thomas Liese, Timo Scholz), two from Capec (Assan Bazaev, Maxim Iglinskiy), Canadian national champion Dominique Perras (Canadian National), Alexandre Nadeau from the local VW-Trek squad, and Nathan O'Neill to baby sit it for Colavita Olive Oil.

The six Polish riders immediately put their heads down and motored, opening up three minutes on the field. Colavita Olive Oil valiantly put their team on the front to limit the damage, but could not pull the break back. After chasing for over 100 kilometers, they eventually blew, the only result of their efforts coming after 110 kilometers, when Rapinski managed to jump across after Colavita brought the gap down to a tantalizingly close 90 seconds.

"Colavita did a great job, and got us close a couple of times," Rapinski said. "A few of us wanted to get across, but we didn't want to drag a whole bunch over. Rapinski made an impressive move, to bridge up like that. For me, it was totally plain and simple today - I just didn't have it. Fortunately for Team Canada, Dominique (Perras) was in there, and he is our best climber."

With Rapinski across, Navigators was happy, because they now had one of their two GC contenders in the lead group (Mark Walters didn't make it up). Speculation was that the Polish teams would drive it right to the finishing circuit, to maximize the time gap, but instead Brozyna and Romanik attacked again on the final KoM climb, with a little less than 40 kilometers to go, taking O'Neill with them.

"In the break I was in a perfect position" said O'Neill. "With Ivan in the yellow, I had a free ride all day. When those two attacked, I was the freshest."

The trio gained a quick 30 seconds, as the reminder of the former lead group looked at each other. Navigators sent Power and Louder to the front, and Mike Jones came up from Health Net. By the three-kilometer finishing circuit the gap was down to 15 seconds. There was a tough 11 percent kicker, which the riders had to struggle over three times, and on the bell lap, with the leaders all but caught, Brozyna surged again, dropping O'Neill and Romanik to solo in for the win. Behind, Moninger and Rapinski had caught up to the two chasers, with Rapinski jumping 300 meters out to take second, ahead of Romanik.

Brozyna's win was no surprise - in 2001 he finished 22nd in the Tour de France, and last year he was 31st in the Giro.

"We had looked at the circuit before the start, because the organizer said that the finish was very tough," Brozyna said. "I knew that this would be the deciding factor, and that I would have to attack here. I was feeling very good, very fit, but I am not a sprinter, so I must attack on thelast hill."

Race Notes
* For Action ATI, Beauce is more important than just a win as the team's title sponsor is a Canadian company (ATI makes computer hardware), and the squad is extremely anxious to do well here. The team name is new, but the riders and manager are well known at Beauce - until last year the team was called Mroz.* It was a remarkable sight to see Colovita's Nathan O'Neill back at the front, after his potentially career-ending broken neck last season, and a crash and knee surgery this past spring. O'Neill, who finished fifth, was just happy just to be in the race."Clearly, after today I am better than I was - I'm just so happy tobe riding again. After being injured most of the year, I haven't racedmuch. Realistically I didn't have high expectations, but my form is startingto come. I had to dig really deep in the last 20 kilometers, but this isconfidence building for me."His next goal? "I'd like to win the time trial.