Hunter conquers all in Caravaca de la Cruz

As the saying goes, 'success breeds success', and Robbie Hunter (Garmin-Transitions) personified the adage as he stormed to his second stage win at the Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia on Thursday.

In a carbon copy of the stage 24-hours previous, Hunter again topped the result sheets, with Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and Vicente Reynes (HTC-Columbia) filling the next two places.

Hunter's win also survived the scrutiny of the race jury after Brown's Rabobank team lodged a protest against the South African's sprint. Cleared of any misconduct Hunter was left to savour his win and possession of the overall leader's jersey for at least another day.

Hills provide the thrills on stage two

Sans Huub Duyn (Team Netapp) and Stephane Rossetto (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team), a 109-strong peloton departed Calasparra on a cloudy day in Spain. The day's route included a repeated ascent of the Category 1 Alto de San Juan, the second of which could come 40 kilometres before the finish in Caravaca de la Cruz.

With the climb providing a carrot to would-be escapees attacks began early with large groups attempting to get away. Several waves of 20-odd riders flooded off the front of the peloton, but each time were quickly reabsorbed thanks largely to the efforts of Cervélo, CCC Polsat and the Spanish National Team.

It took the first ascent of the San Juan - at 57 kilometres - to create the first successful escape. Serguey Lagutin (Vacansoleil) led José Herrada (Caja Rural), Stefan Denifl (Cervélo Test Team), Wouter Poels (Vacansoleil), Roman Kireyev (Astana) and Stef Clement (Rabobank) over the crest of the mountain, with RadioShack's Jason McCartney and Gregory Rast, Danny Pate (Garmin-Transitions) and Dominik Nerz (Milram) also along for the ride.

The climb also succeeded in splitting the peloton into two groups, with Lance Armstrong (RadioShack), Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and defending champion Denis Menchov (Rabobank) present and accounted for in the forward section. Over the next 30 kilometres the breakaway was able to stretch its advantage to around 1:20.

However, neither the separation of the peloton nor the break would last much longer. With Sky at the head of the re-formed main group the escape was neutralized in time for the race's second run at San Juan.

Lagutin stubborn in bolt to the finish

The mountain once again saw the race light up. Clearly not content with his earlier effort, Lagutin took line honours again at the summit. This time, however, the Uzbek rider was solo as he bombed down the other side with a lead of some two minutes over the rest of the field, 35 kilometres yet to cover.

Quickly, though, the Vacansoleil rider's grip on the lead began to slip. Within four kilometres his advantage had dropped to 1:25. Yet, in spite of the stampede behind, a time check of 1:05 at 26km-to-go indicated that Lagutin would go down swinging. With Robbie Hunter's overall lead also under threat Garmin-Transitions took responsibility for the chase.

The US squad's increased interest had an instant effect and with 20 kilometres left Lagutin's lead had halved. With the outskirts of Caravaca de la Cruz flashing past, the peloton caught sight of their prey. Somehow, Lagutin managed to kick again and prepared to enter the final 10 kilometres of the stage with a 40-second buffer.

Two kilometres later, the clock was still in favour of Lagutin, but only just; 25 seconds the gap. Alas, the fairytale was not to be, the brave effort reduced to nil as the reality of a sprint finale replaced the prior pursuit.

Déjà vu reigned at the finish as the result of stage one was repeated. Hunter defended his overall lead in the best way possible as he sprinted to his second sprint win in as many days. Graeme Brown (Rabobank) once again fell short of the top step as both he and Vicente Reynes (HTC-Columbia) claimed the remaining podium positions.