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Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana stage 2 – Live coverage

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2022 stage 2

The stage 2 profile (Image credit: Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana)

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Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana: Remco Evenepoel wins opening stage

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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

Valenciana organisation rejects Evenepoel's criticism of crunch climb conditions

149km to go

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 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

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

100km to go

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

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

Egan Bernal undergoes successful surgery on cervical section of spine

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

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

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

31km to go

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

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

King, Rosskopf and Paasschens remain.

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.

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

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.

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

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

7km to go

5km to go

4km to go

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

3km to go

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

2km to go

1km to go

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...

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

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

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.

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