Bos powers into Palencia

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Theo Bos survived a late-race split to continue his winning run at the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon with victory on stage two into the northern Spanish city of Palencia on Thursday.

Yet again, the Cervélo sprinter broke the heart of Australian sprinter Graeme Brown (Rabobank) who finished second to his Dutch rival for the third time this year. Local rider Oscar Grau (Burgos 2016) upstaged a number of his ProTour and Professional Continental colleagues to take third place.

A split in the peloton with less than 17 kilometres had seen a group of 22 riders go clear to the finish. A number of riders who had been in the top-ten overall at the start of the stage missed the move, but race favourites Alberto Contador (Astana), Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and Tiago Machado (RadioShack) were alert to the danger and took their place amongst the group.

The group swelled to 49 riders with five kilometres to go, but with Bos and Brown both present, Rabobank's posse took control for the finale, hoping to upset the now relatively isolated race leader. But unfortunately for the men in orange and blue, Bos kept a clear head as he hitched a ride before leaping ahead of the train at the finish.

It was Bos' fourth victory of the season and will prolong his tenure in the race leader's jersey for at least another day. Friday's two Category 1 climbs are likely to see him hand the tunic over to the men most likely to decide the final classification result.

Mayoz the man with a plan

Once again, the peloton set off beneath grey skies. The damp conditions didn't deter the riders as Spaniards Antonio Cabello (Andalucia-Cajasur), Ruben Reig (Caja Rural) and Andoni Blazquez (Orbea) performed their national duty and attempted to escape the main group.

Despite the 210 kilometre distance of the stage, the pace of the peloton quickly saw the trio back in the fold. However, for the second day in a row Iban Mayoz (Footon-Servetto) had better luck than his predecessors. He set off with Steven Kruijswijk (Rabobank), José Herrada (Caja Rural) and Jose Vicente Toribio (Andalucia-Cajasur), and built up an advantage of 1:30.

The leaders were given plenty of leeway in their endeavours as they stretched their gap to more than seven minutes after 56 kilometres of racing. Cervélo made good on their responsibility for the race leader, Theo Bos, as the Swiss squad organised at the front of the peloton and begin to impact upon the distance to the leaders, so that by kilometre 72, their lead was pegged at six minutes.

Ahead, Mayoz was taking full advantage of his second day on the attack as he absorbed maximum points at the mountain primes on offer. Satisfied with his haul, the Spaniard slunk back to the peloton, leaving his three former companions to battle on alone.

The leader's advantage was steadily reduced, and as they closed in on the final 50 kilometres of the stage, the gap dropped from around four minutes to just two. By now, Cervélo were sharing the workload in the peloton with Astana.

A rain shower lasted long enough to soak the peloton, but as the race entered its final 30 kilometres the sun returned to heat up the chase, which by now had wrestled the time gap down to 1:30.

Five kilometres later the gap had dropped to a minute as Kruijswijk decided enough was enough and dropped out of the lead group to see what could be done to assist his teammates in the run to the finish. Herrada and Toribio's hopes of survival against the Astana-led armada behind were slim, and they were swallowed up with just less than 17 kilometres to go.

Shortly after their capture, the peloton fractured. Five riders each from Astana and Rabobank took their place among a 22-rider front group. Those with the majority worked hard to drive the advantage, but by the finish the group had ballooned to double its original size after a concerted chase back by Euskaltel-Euskadi.

Nevertheless, Rabobank and Astana held their positions at the front of the peloton into the final four kilometres. But despite the Dutch squad's efforts for their sprinter Graeme Brown, Theo Bos continued his ascendancy at the race as he sprinted to a second successive stage win.