Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana stage 2 – Live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 2 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. The races is just getting underway in Bétera.

The riders rolling out for today's start.

There are five classified climbs on the menu today, including two second-category tests and a third-category hill inside the final 15 kilometres.

Expect some sprinters like Fabio Jakobsen, Elia Viviani, Giacomo Nizzolo, Alexander Kristoff, Juan Sebastian Molano and Matteo Moschetti to be in contention at the end of today. The finish is uphill though, so some might miss out.

158km to go

The battle for the breakaway is on in these early parts of the stage.

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149km to go

Ben King, Joey Rosskopf (Human Powered Health), Mathijs Paasschens (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-WB), Xabier Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Ivan Cobo (Kern Pharma), and Sergio Martin (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) have jumped away at the front of the day.

That sextet is looking like our break of the day.

That break group has just under four minutes on the peloton as Israel-Premier Tech and QuickStep-AlphaVinyl control the situation behind.

Burgos-BH's Oscar Pelegri did attempt to get across but didn't make it and was brought back by the peloton.

The gap to the front is stable at four minutes now.

A look at today's breakaway.

125km to go

The riders have had a fairly flat opening to the stage but now they hit the hills. The break are heading towards the first classified climb of the day – the third-cat Gabaldón.

The climb is 3.7km at 6.1 per cent.

Ben King led the way over the top of the climb to grab three points and extend his KOM lead. Roman and Paasschens were second and third.

115km to go

4:30 is the current gap.

Still a good gap for the leaders at the moment. It's up to 4:40 after the climb.

100km to go

Israel-Premier Tech and QuickStep-AlphaVinyl ccontinue to work on the front of the peloton as the riders pass the 100km to go mark.

More hills to come. Up next is the third-cat Rio Juanes.

Juri Hollmann, Einer Rubio (Movistar), Stephen Williams (Bahrain Victorious), Chris Juul-Jensen (BikeExchange-Jayco) were non-starters today.

IPT and QuickStep working at the head of the peloton.

Ivan Cobo is in trouble on the climb, dropping from the breakaway.

80km to go

Cobo is now back in the peloton. King took the points once again over Rio Juanes and now the gap is down to 3:40.

Two second-cat climbs coming up soon – La Muela and Fuente La Real.

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The break starts the climb of La Muela, which is 5.8km long at an average of 4 per cent. King will be looking for more KOM points here.

It's still the same teams on the front of the peloton as the break nears the top of the first of the two second-cat climbs..

AG2R Citroën's Gijs Van Hoecke has abandoned the race.

56km to go

Just under three minutes for the break now as they head down the descent. 

King is on the move now after taking the points over the last climb and also leading across the intermediate sprint. He's followed by Azparren on the next second-cat climb at Fuente La Real.

King led the way over the top once more. He has a big lead in the KOM rankings now after adding that six points to his total.

44km to go

Four up front after Sergio Martin was dropped on that climb, and they're three minutes clear as QuickStep continue to work.

The break is still working well together at this point – neither of the Human Powered Health men are holding something back here.

36km to go

Despite their efforts, the gap is coming down a little. 2:50 now.

The same teams – Israel and QuickStep – work at the front of the peloton.

31km to go

It's down under two minutes for the break. Not much hope for them to stay out to the finish today, if there ever was...

Under a minute now as the peloton steps up the pace.

A shot of race leader Remco Evenepoel. His team is still doing the work at the front of the peloton.

25km to go

Just under 30 seconds left for the break now.

Still one climb to go – the third-cat Calicanto at 15km to go.

Azparren is back in the peloton after dropping from the break.

King, Rosskopf and Paasschens remain.

20km to go

20 seconds with 20km to go.

Ineos, Bahrain, Intermarche all send a few men to the front now.

The break starts the final climb now. It's 3.9km at 3 per cent.

Rosskopf drops back as King pushes on once more.

The duo don't have much of an advantage left now. Will they make it to the top?

Paasschens continues to push on at the front. Just a few seconds now.

A rider from Euskaltel-Euskadi has bridged across.

17km to go

AG2R and UAE represented at the head of the peloton now as they catch the break.

Attacks near the top of the climb as Dylan Teuns (Bahrain Victorious) counters a Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-WB rider.

Teuns is solo over the top but he's not far ahead of the peloton.

Teuns pushes on down the descent as a Caja Rural rider chases him. Evenepoel is just behind a teammate at the head of the peloton a few seconds back.

Two riders crashed on the descent. One rider slid out on a corner and seconds later the other carried straight on a few seconds later.

The second rider has gone down a ravine off the side of the road – we hope he's ok.

It looked like the first rider was from Euskaltel-Euskadi. He was back up quickly.

No word on the second rider yet, though it looked like a Jumbo-Visma rider. Motorbikes have stopped near the scene but the rider is nowhere to be seen among the thick undergrowth off the side of the road.

Helicopter images just showed a Jumbo-Visma rider walking across the road near the crash. 

It was David Dekker. Hopefully he's not too badly hurt, then.

8km to go

Meanwhile, QuickStep continue on the front of the peloton. It's all back together again.

7km to go

The peloton is charging towards the finish in Torrent now. Still QuickStep doing the work. B&B Hotels, Intermarche, and DSM are moving up too.

5km to go

A bit of a technical run here. It's a bit twisty and the roads aren't very wide.

4km to go

QuickStep remain in charge here. Evenepoel up near the front as well as their sprinter Fabio Jakobsen.

Bahrain and Intermarche up there as well during this still quite technical run of road.

A crash further back in the peloton has taken out several riders.

3km to go

Back on wider, straighter roads now.

QuickStep and Intermarche still the most visible squads at the front.

2km to go

They're heading into the town now. Race leader Evenepoel heads to the front to do a stint of work.

1km to go

Intermarche hit the front after Evenepoel pulls off.

Ineos and Bahrain up there too.

It's the Intermarche train.

Pasqualon winds it up for Kristoff.

Jakobsen goes first up the barriers!

Kristoff and Viviani can't match his speed!

Fabio Jakobsen wins stage 2! A dominant sprint and nobody else came close.

He made that look as easy as any sprint I can remember seeing. Dominant.

Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) trailed home in second place ahead of Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers).

Double success for QuickStep, then, after Evenepoel's win yesterday.

Today's winner and the large gap behind him.

Here's what Jakobsen said after the stage...

"We started out yesterday with a win from Remco and it showed that the team is in good shape. Today was a hard stage and I definitely hard to work hard for this.

"We had control all day with Josef Cerny and then in the final Mikkel Honoré did a long pull. Then the entire team did a lead out.

"Remco was I think one of the strongest again to help me, which is think is nice in the yellow jersey. If Wanty doesn't pass us in the last corner I think we have a perfect lead out. But they came underneath, and we had to re-do it.

"I found my own way and launched myself at 200 from the line. I have to say I had small cramps in the legs because it was hot and the first race of the season but I'm happy with the win."

Here's today's top 10 at the finish...

1 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 4:09:51

2 Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Col) UAE Team Emirates

3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers

4 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain Victorious

5 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux

6 Luca Mozzato (Ita) B&B Hotels-KTM

7 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team

8 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux

9 Laurenz Rex (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB

10 Jesus Ezquerra Muela (Spa) Burgos-BH

Here's our report from the stage via yours truly. The full text should be up shortly.

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana: Fabio Jakobsen wins stage 2

Jakobsen celebrates victory for the 25th time in his career.

That's all for our live coverage of the race today. Look out for news coming from our man on the ground Al Fotheringham, including interviews with Evenepoel, Jakobsen and Ben King.