Vuelta a Burgos: Gaviria wins stage 2

Image 1 of 29

Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) won stage 2 of the Vuelta a Burgos, staying ahead of a crash in the final sweeping corner and jumping off the wheel of rival Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), to win by several bike lengths, as his rivals looked lost and confused several bike lengths behind him.

Three of Gaviria's teammates were unable to start the stage after a COVID-19 contagion scare and the Colombian has himself recovered from the virus after spending a month in quarantine in the UAE in March. However, he looked back to his very best, celebrating with his arms in the air as he crossed the line.

Démare finished second, Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was third, with the other sprinters scattered down the results. Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished safely in the peloton and so kept the race lead by the eight seconds he gained on his rivals on the stage 1 uphill finish.

A fast slightly downhill run to the finish made it difficult for teams to move up and lead out the sprint.

CCC Team tried their hand with three kilometres to go and then Deceuninck-QuickStep took over with 1.5km left to race. However, the final sweeping corner with 500km to go changed everything, with Gaviria perfectly placed to take advantage.

"For sure it's one of the sweetest tasting victories this year, because of the whole hiatus and what's happened with the virus. After being stuck at home not knowing if we'd be racing again at all this year, being able to claim a victory here is just great," Gaviria said.  

"We didn't do any work to control the breakaway because we were three riders down. It was a blow for us, not having Molano, who's one of my lead-out men. But still, we were able to count on legs and luck, and at the right moment we came together to do a good sprint and get the win."

How it happened

Stage 2 of the Vuelta a Burgos from Castrojeriz to Villadiego was a flat 168km ride out into the Burgos countryside via different loops on long straight raids. It is the flattest stage of this year's race and was always destined to be a day for the sprinters.   

The riders again underwent temperature checks and wore masks on the sign-on podium as part of the COVID-19 precautions. Unfortunately Sebastian Molano, Cristian Muñoz and Camilo Ardila of UAE Team Emirates did not start after having contact before the race with somebody who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. Following the UCI and team protocol, the three riders were isolated, sent home and underwent another COVID-19 test.

Sebastian Henao (Team Ineos) and Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo-Visma) also did not start after crashing hard yesterday. Henao has a shoulder injury, while the young Dutchman needed surgery to a severed finger.

With temperatures close to 30C, the early break of the day formed after just four kilometres, with Riccardo Verza (Kometa Xstra), Joel Nicolau (CajaRural-RGA Seguros), Ángel Fuentes (Burgos-BH), Alessandro Fedelli (Nippo Delko Provence) and Kiko Galván (Kern Pharma) going up the road.

The Bora-Hansgrohe team of stage 1 winner and race leader Felix Großschartner and later the NTT Pro Cycling team lead the chase as the break established a four-minute lead.

Little happened as the kilometres ticked down under the blue skies and the gap of the break melted under the hot Spanish sun. It was down to two minutes when Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was slowed by a front wheel puncture. His mechanic carried out a quick disc wheel change and the rising star of the sport was quickly back in the peloton. 

The first signs of discord in the break came as the lead dropped inside a minute. Nicolau sat up briefly and admonishes an apparent lack of collaboration. The break was down to four riders as they rode through the finish with 23km to race, the peloton only 40 seconds behind them. Nicolau was last to surrender with 15km to go and then the sprinters' team took over.

The speed was close to 60km/h on the narrow country roads and only a short climb with 8km to go cause problems in the peloton and hurt some of the sprinters. However, only a few riders were spat out the back and the peloton reformed on the fast descent to the finish. The overall contenders tried to stay safe and the sprint teams tried to move up but both where helpless tasks.

Gaviria ensured he was on Démare's wheel and then dived past him early along the barriers on the exit of the curve to surge away to victory. 

The Vuelta a Burgos heads into the mountains on stage 3 with the summit finish at Picon Blanco and so a very different kind of finish.  

Cyclingnews will have full live coverage of the stage followed by a full report, results and photo gallery.

Results