Ruta del Sol: Trentin wins stage 2

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Matteo Trentin won after what he described as “probably the longest final kilometre ever” in stage two of the Vuelta a Andalucia on Thursday, claiming his second victory of the season and the ninth of 2019 for Mitchelton-Scott.

Trentin narrowly but convincingly beat Danny Van Poppel (Jumbo-Visma) in a seemingly interminable slow-motion sprint in the town of Torredonjimeno in eastern Andalucia. Bahrain-Merida’s Ivan Cortina tried to spring a surprise late attack in a finish, where timing and energy levels counted for as much as technical ability and sprinting strength, and the Spaniard came within just a few metres of taking the win.

He was swamped by the others sprinters at the line and although Van Poppel put in a powerful late surge for second, it was Trentin had the edge and who clinched the victory.

"It was really hard, probably the longest final kilometre ever,” the reigning European Road-Race champion said afterwards.

“It was chaotic because everyone wanted to sit on the front but of course after quite an easy stage today, everybody had the legs to be there. I got boxed in quite a lot on the last corner and Cortina got the jump. I saw he was pretty far away dragging uphill and I timed my sprint the best I could and it was just perfect.”

A long day in the saddle

Trentin’s move came at the end of a six hour, 216 kilometre trek eastwards through the rolling hills of central Andalucia, with little major race action in the first three quarters of the stage to break up the monotony of the never-ending lines of olive trees on each side of the road.

As the bunch eased along at a relatively sleepy 35km/h, Kevin Van Melsen (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Alexander Kuilkovskiy (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Mattia Viel (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec), Umberto Orsini (Bardiani-CSF), Juan Antonio Lopez-Cozar (Basque Country-Murias) and Dimitry Zhyhunou (Team Euskadi) carved out a hefty advantage of seven minutes in the first hour. It was only as their gap moved towards eight minutes that Lotto Soudal, working for race leader and stage 1 Tim Wellens, began to haul the line back in.

The margin between break and bunch tumbled much faster in the final hour when Trentin’s teammates at Mitchelton-Scott, spearheaded by Simon Yates, Mikel Nieve and Esteban Chaves, lined out the bunch. Luis León Sánchez (Astana) who had told one television reporter at the start that he was suffering from a leg injury, was spotted dropping back, one of the more unexpected victims of the high late pace.

After the break had folded completely on the one categorized climb of the day, the long grind of the third category Alto de Porcuna, a gutsy late solo move by Andalucian-born Jorge Cubero (Burgos-BH) helped keep the speed high. But a mass drive by the orange jerseys of Rally Cycling on the far side of the road, as it rose slowly and steadily towards Torredonjimeno, reeled Cubero in with three kilometres to go.

Team Jumbo-Visma then took over from the American squad, yet their attempt to keep matters in hand on the front was foiled by the slow motion sprint finish into Torredonjimeno. The low pace rendered control of the peloton all but impossible and Cortina’s late attack caused further problems.

Just as it seemed Cortina could fend off the best sprinters, Trentin and Euskadi-Murias Enrique Sanz, accelerating side by side in an almost perfectly matched tandem, overhauling the Bahrain-Merida racer in the last 50 metres. When Sanz faded at the finish, Van Poppel blasted past the Spanish sprinter but Trentin was already near the line and took his second victory of the new season.

After Thursday’s transition stage, stage three on Friday will be a short but technical individual time trial through the olive groves of north-eastern Andalucia.

It is 16 kilometres long and with a long, but steady 4.8 kilometre climb in the first third and a nasty kick up at the end. The time trial is very similar in format to last year’s time trial, where Tim Wellens finished eighth and sealed his overall victory in Andalucia. However, Saturday’s brutally hard high mountain stage to Granada will put the ball firmly back in the climbers court.

As for Thursday’s winner, “Tomorrow” - a time trial on Friday - “is easy,” Trentin explained, “then the day after I'm going to die and probably the last day suits me again.”

“I think with Jack [Haig, fourth overall -ed] we need to think a bit about the GC. I will take it easy and then we will see in Granada. We take it day by day.”

Results

General classification after stage 2