Ruta del Sol: Covi wins stage 2

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Alessandro Covi won stage 2 of the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol on the cobbled, twisting uphill finish to Alcalá la Real, attacking early, in the steep finale kilometre and then impressively kicking twice as the chasers failed to catch him.

Miguel Ángel López (Astana Qazaqstan) was strong on the steep climb but was unable to close the gap on Covi and finished second, just as he did in 2021. Ivan Sosa (Movistar) was third at four seconds after bumping shoulders with López, with Australia’s Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) fourth. 

Stage 1 winner Rune Herregodts (Sport Vlaanderen Baloise) was distanced with two kilometres to go and so Covi took the race leader’s yellow jersey. He leads Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), who was in the break on stage 1, by five seconds, with Sosa third at 10 seconds.

The 23-year-old Covi has already raced for 13 days in 2022 and won the Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia Costa Calida last Sunday with a late attack. He will be part of the UAE Team Emirates Classics squad alongside Matteo Trentin at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and then at the other cobbled Classics. 

“It was a hard finish. I tried to anticipate the finish with Wout Poels. I saw I got a gap, so I kept going and managed to win it,” Covi explained post-race.

“I’m happy for the team who backed me and helped me a lot during the stage. I’ve paid them back and now I hope to do well for the rest of the race. I’m in good form, perhaps not my best, my nutritionist says I can still lose some puppy fat. But I’m happy and my big goals are later in the season.

“Now we’ll try to defend the race lead day by day and see what happens.”

How it unfolded

The 150km stage from Archidona to Alcalá la Real, north of Granada, is a classic stage in the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol and produced another thrilling finale. 

The early breakaway of Kamil Malecki (Lotto Soudal), Gotzon Martín (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Raúl García Pierna (Equipo Kern Pharma). Diego Pablo Sevilla (Eolo-Kometa) and Jon Barrenextea (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) came together via two different attacks but the peloton was happy to let them go away and sweep up the five categorised climbs and intermediate sprints. 

They opened a gap of 4:00 as first Sport Vlaanderen–Baloise lead the chase. Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux took over as the final climbs approached, meaning the break had no chance of survival. 

Barrenextea and Garcia Pierna attacked the break on the penultimate Alto de Las Grajeras climb as their advantage fell but they too were eventually caught on the Puerto del Castillo, the last climb before the lung-bursting finish. The five-kilometre climb hurt and spat out some sprinters but 70 or so riders stayed together for the fast descent to the foot of the climb up to central Alcalá la Real.

Poels kicked off the attacks on the narrow, 16 climb but Lopez seemed able to control him. Then Covi kicked early, anticipating the real finish and testing his rivals. 

López and Sosa perhaps expected the Italian to fade but he didn’t. Indeed he gasped for breath when the gradient eased and the road surface became smooth for a second, then surged again, hurting himself more and more with an aggressive effort. 

It was worth the pain, with Covi hitting the finish line first to take the stage victory and overall race lead. He and UAE Team Emirates will defend the yellow jersey during Friday’s 153km third stage from Lucena to Otura, again the hills of southern Spain.