The Bahrain Victorious team once again challenged the Ineos Grenadiers in the Tour of the Alps, but the British team once again showed their strength to fight back, and Tao Geoghegan Hart again took the stage win.

Jack Haig attacked on the first stage and was caught just 800 meters from the finish. On another tough climb to the finish of stage 2 in Ritten, overlooking Bolzano, Santiago Buitrago attacked 500 meters from the top of the Mittelberg.

Alexandre Vlasov, Renard Kamuna (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) fell, leaving only nine riders able to keep pace.

Haig tried to move up the order before a sprint contest with a concrete finish that resembled a winter ice rink, but Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroën) crashed out. Buitrago finished third, several car lengths behind.

Haig has not won a race since 2020 and has only two victories, but he finished third overall in the 2021 Vuelta a España and is clearly on a roll as the Tour de l'Alps and Giro d'Italia approach.

"You have to try something," Haig told Cycling News after the sprint.

"Tao is super strong, the team is super strong. With the time bonus at the finish line, he's 20 seconds ahead of us, but me and Santiago are doing well."

Buitrago's attack earned him six points in the mountains and the blue jersey.

"It's a nice surprise to have this jersey, but we are here to win," the Colombian climber said.

"There are three days left. I'm looking forward to Wednesday's stage and the long climb to the finish. I want to get a good result there."

Geoghegan Hart apparently sought out Haig after the stage, but Haig claimed to be a friend and explained the circumstances of the crash. Like Geoghegan Hart, Haig was not happy with his distorted finish after descending to the Ritten outdoor ice skating rink.

"It's nice to finish here, but it could be a little dangerous. Fortunately, everything went well," Haig told Cycling News.

"I'm good friends with Tao and I have a lot of respect for him. [With 500 meters to go, there was a roundabout and Pavel Sivakov was in front of me and Tao, myself and Felix Gall were wide across the road. There was a little gravel on the surface of the roundabout, and Felix fell over. So me and Tao got confused. That's how it happened