Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana: Tadej Pogačar wins stage 2

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After an extraordinary debut season as a professional, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) picked up where he left off on his second race day of the new campaign, triumphing on the punchy uphill finish above Cullera on stage 2 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.

The 21-year-old, who finished third overall at last year's Vuelta a España, got the better of the veteran Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) – a three-time winner of the Valencia title – at the top of the steep two-kilometre climb.

Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-McLaren) claimed the final spot on the podium, ahead of Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation), on what was an important test for the overall contenders ahead of the Altea summit finish on stage 4.

The 181km stage from Torrent to Cullera contained two early climbs but was all about the snaking final climb to the radar station above the coastal town, which averaged nine per cent and reached 21 per cent in parts.

Caja Rural's Gonzalo Serrano tried to upset the order with an early attack but the favourites remained patient and when he was caught, with 600 metres to go, Pogačar's teammate Jan Polanc looked to draw out the others with an attack. Gianni Moscon (Team Ineos) responded and surged clear but faded as Valverde came to the fore in the final 150 metres.

From there, it looked like the usual scenario of a Valverde win on an uphill finish in an early-season Spanish stage race, but Pogačar continued to gain momentum behind and came around the 39-year-old just before the line.

"I actually surprised myself today," Pogačar said. "It was a good stage for me, a good finish, but I did not expect to win, because I never know how my form is after long break."

Teuns was a close third, with a couple of bike lengths – though no time gap – to Martin, who was followed by Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott), 2019 champion Ion Izaguirre (Astana), Ruben Fernandez (Fundacion-Orbea), Moscon, and fellow Ineos rider Tao Geoghegan Hart. There was then a five-second gap to Greg Van Avermaet in 10th.

With no time bonuses on the line, Pogačar leads the race but is tied on time with those other eight riders. The battle for the overall title is set to come down to the tough five-kilometre climb to Altea on Saturday.

"For sure we will try to do everything to keep the jersey," said Pogačar.

How it unfolded

The stage started out with an early break containing some decent firepower in Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Jos van Emden (Jumbo-Visma), and Alessandro De Marchi (CCC Team), who were joined by the Caja Rural duo of Alvaro Cuadros and Hector Saez.

Cuadros' brief was to take the mountains jersey, and he made no mistake, being first to the top of the second-category Alto Dos Aguas after 46km and the second-category Puerto Alto Millares after 71km. He stayed with his companions on the undulating following 40km and down onto the flatter final part of the stage, but sat up with 20km to go.

By that point, a bunch dash up the final climb seemed inevitable, but the peloton weren't always in total control as the breakaway were allowed to gain well over five minutes, and still enjoyed a buffer of four minutes heading into the final 50km.

"The first part of the stage was really hard because nobody knew who would start to pull in the peloton, so the gap to the break was really big, and when we started to ride it was full gas, so it was a really tough stage."

After Cuadros had disappeared, however, the gap was falling quickly, and it was down to just 20 seconds at the 10km-to-go banner. While De Marchi, Van Emden, and Saez sat up, Cavagna refused to give in and tried a speculative long-range solo effort.

The young French rouleur gave it a good go but was caught on the coast with 4km to go, shortly after Jumbo-Visma neo-pro Tobias Foss crashed heavily.

Bahrain McLaren took pole position ahead of the tight right-hand turn onto the final climb, where, almost immediately, Serrano sprang from his saddle. He barely sat down as he opened up a handsome margin, but he eventually paid for his efforts and faded markedly inside the final kilometre.

Behind him, Ineos looked in control, with Ben Swift leading Geoghegan Hart and Moscon, but Polanc looked to soften up the reduced group with an attack. As he was brought back, Moscon went, and quickly created daylight, but was unable to sustain it.

At that point, Valverde was moving through the gears but Pogačar, 19 years his junior, had other ideas and came around on the slight final bend in time to punch the air in delight.

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