Nairo Quintana (Movistar) took an impressive victory in stage 2 of the Vuelta a Espana today, after the Colombian rider attacked with 3 kilometers to go to claimed a solo victory in Calpe ahead of Nicholas Roche (Team Sunweb) and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma).
Race Highlights
Quintana and Roche jettisoned the main group following the steep climb of the Cumbre del Sol with 20 kilometers remaining, while Roglic, Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First), Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) and Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) also came along for the ride.
But, a blistering attack from Quintana along the flat approach to the finish caught his fellow escapees off-guard, evidencing the Movistar rider’s excellent form early on in this year’s Spanish Grand Tour.
In the meantime, Roche outsprinted Roglic for second place five seconds behind Quintana, earning the Irish rider enough tie in bonus seconds to takeover the overall race lead with a two-second advantage over his Colombian rival.
Having missed out on red, Quintana will sport the green points classification jersey, while Lopez will don the white young rider’s jersey.
Angel Madrazo (Burgos-BH), who crested the first two summits of the race in pole position, secured the race’s first polka dot jersey.
Meanwhile, overnight race leader Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) finished in a chase 37 seconds down on Quintana to relinquish the red jersey he took after Astana won Saturday’s opening team time trial.
Five years after he wore the red jersey for one day in the 2013 Vuelta, Roche is back in the hot seat while Uran moved in third place at eight seconds back, followed by Nieve in fourth at 22 seconds behind while Lopez dropped to fifth at 33 seconds.
Back in the peloton, the stinging double-digit ramps of the Cumbre del Sol climb took its toll on the general classification, with the Team Ineos duo Wout Poels and Tao Geoghegan Hart crossing the line almost 10 minutes in arrears.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
