Vuelta a Espana 2017: Stage 2

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January 1 - September 10, Nimes, Nîmes, Road - WorldTour

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Live coverage of stage 2 of the Vuelta, a flat stage across southern France where crosswinds could be a factor. 

 

Hola

The riders are signing on, with the roll-out scheduled for 12.25 local time. 

Catch up

BMC, with almost a clean sweep of jerseys, line up on the front as the riders wait for the race to get underway. 

The riders are on their way and currently making their way through what is a pretty big neutralised zone. So the flag should drop for the start of the race proper in around 15 minutes.

Before we get underway, here's the full story on those crosswinds I mentioned earlier. Basically, strong winds are blowing out to sea, straight across the race route, which tracks the coast for over 100km. Alberto Contador says days like this can be just as important as big summit finishes like the Angliru. 

We're off!

The first attacks are coming, but Contador's Trek-Segafredo team is on the front of the peloton attempting to control matters in the early phases.

It's fast. No successful breakaway attempts thus far, but the peloton is rattling along, and some riders are fighting to stick to the back of the peloton.

178km remaining from 203km

Things have calmed down out there, but the peloton is still as one.

You can now catch up on yesterday's action with our highlights video. Check it out here.

Just over 40km gone, and we're nearing the coastline. At the moment we're seeing a fight for position at the front of the peloton, with BMC, Trek, Sky, and Katusha among those trying to keep their leaders well positioned.

This is a flat stage, but for the moment it's all about the general classification riders.

Speaking of Degenkolb, Alasdair Fotheringham spoke to the German yesterday. He's here in his first race since the Tour to build towards the World Championships in September (Degenkolb, not Fotheringham). Here's the full story.

46.3 kilometres have been covered in the first hour of racing.

Chris Froome is widely considered the favourite for this Vuelta, and he made a solid start in the team time trial yesterday, with Sky finishing fourth on the stage. "OK, it’s not the stage victory, but we put in a very solid ride," said Froome, who put significant chunks of time into his main rivals for the GC. 

138km remaining from 203km

The nerves and anticipation of crosswinds was always going to increase the likelihood of crashes, and riders from Cofidis, Astana, and LottoNL went down there. It's nothing too serious, though, and they're all back up and running. 

131km remaining from 203km

Still no echelon action, but the general consensus is that at one point or another, the wind will unleash its impact on the race - and the GC riders must be switched on at every moment. 

Our Spanish correspondent Alasdair Fotheringham has just arrived at the finish in Gruissan. Before he attacks the press buffet, he sends us the following weather update.

 Susan jumping in so that Patrick can recover from all the excitement so far in this stage. Or try to wake up. Whatever....

There was a lot more action in yesterday's short team time trial than there has been yet in today's stage. Take a look at some video highlights of stage 1. 

After 2 hours of racing, the average speed is 44.9 km/hr.

The feeding zone has been passed. We wish the peloton Bon Appetit.

Team Sunweb finished third in yesterday's team time trial. They were tied in time with second-placed Quick Step, at six seconds. This was also three seconds faster than the favoured Team Sky. No one was more surprised that Team Sunweb itself.

Who might win this thing today? Niki Sorensen, DS at Aqua Blue, puts in a good word for his Adam Blythe. He told our Al Fotheringham at the start that the 27-year-old Briton is in good shape and recently did a strong Vuelta a Burgos.

A very very long stretch of very straight road. And of course as flat as can be.

At the front right now we have Sunweb, AG2R, Trek, Bahrain-Merida, Astana, Sky --- good thing it is a wide road.

 The field is now stretched out in a long line, as compared to being all bunched up. But still all together.

We have wind! And some furious riding up front. And we see the first little gap forming!

Pantano of Trek leading the peloton. There are maybe 30-40 riders in teh second group.

Apparently all the big names are in the first group, and, as we said, it is a small group which is now behind, only about 20 riders.

69km remaining from 203km

Mechanical for Froome! The Sky rider is lucky to have his problem during a lull in the pace, and he has teammates to help him back on. 

Froome is back up near the front of the bunch as his Sky riders take the lead.

Crash

Marc Fournier (FDJ), Javi Moreno (Bahrain), and Anass Aït El Abdia (UAE) are all sat up at the side of the road. 

El Abdia's head is slumped. This looks like a collarbone, and it certainly looks like the end of the road for him. Moreno is holding his face. 

57km remaining from 203km

Fournier is back up and running, as is Moreno, but the Bahrain rider is moving very gingerly. We're still waiting for confirmation of El Abdia's abandon.

The pace has been taken out of proceedings here, and the action will have to wait for later, it seems. The riders are heading inland now, so into more of a headwind. With 30km or so remaining, they'll turn almost 180 to head straight in the direction of the coast.

Javier Moreno has also abandoned the Vuelta.

36km remaining from 203km

36km remaining from 203km

32km remaining from 203km

Kautsha take it up here, and now the pace is really high. There's an intermediate sprint coming up, so maybe they're thinking about that. 

Katusha have forced some splits here. Three of their riders are up with Daniel Oss and a Quick-Step rider. Behind them there's a gap to the others, but it's single file now. 

A fair few riders have been blown out of the back of the peloton here. 

The gaps up front are closed but it's stretched out and the pace remains very high. 

Chris Froome is up there near the front, following a LottoNL wheel, without a teammate in his immediate vicinity. 

27km remaining from 203km

Quick-Step hit the front now and they're riding hard here. Astana tucked in just behind, protecting Fabio Aru.

Orica are doing a handy job of keeping their GC men up at the front, as are Astana. Trek suddenly appear on the right-hand side with Contador in tow.

20km remaining from 203km

A roundabout creates considerable disruption. The left-hand side is clearly the shortest way round, but half of the teams take the elongated right-hand path, leaving them about half-way down the peloton by the time they emerge. 

Orica take it up through Narbonne, with the town-centre roads throwing up some twists and turns, causing the peloton to stretch out once more. 

15km remaining from 203km

We're heading for a sprint here, though a lot can still happen in the final few kilometres, with the wind still a threat. There aren't many top-tier sprinters here, and not teams dedicated to controlling these flat stages, so we may see an opportunist try their luck before long.

11km remaining from 203km

Trek's main job for the day has been to keep Contador well protected, but in the final couple of kilometres thoughts will turn to the stage win, as they have two of the strongest cards for a sprint finish in John Degenkolb and Edward Theuns. Degenkolb said they'd make the call out on the road as to who they work for today.

6km remaining from 203km

This latest injection of pace has seen plenty of small groups off the back of the peloton.

4km remaining from 203km

Stannard back on the front as we near the safety net of the -3km to go banner. 

2km remaining from 203km

Quick-Step give it full gas as the change in direction changes the wind. 

It's on! Quick-Step have three and it's splitting up big time.

A Cannondale group makes it back to the Quick-Step group, but there's a gap back to the rest.

1km remaining from 203km

Solo effort from a Quick-Step rider. 

It's Yves Lampaert

Lampaert's going to take this...He has a gap

Yves Lampaert wins stage 2 of the Vuelta a España

What a ride from Lampaert. What a ride from Quick-Step. They knew all about that roundabout and the change in the wind direction, and they duly split the race and put numbers up at the front. Lampaert had the power to open the gap, and there was no one to shut it down. Even if there was, QS had Matteo Trentin waiting for a sprint. Great tactics, great execution. 

Trentin took second place there, as the rest of the group came in a couple of seconds down. Adam Blythe (Aqua Blue) was third. 

Strong tweeting from the Quick-Step's media team. As they say, the Belgian squad is the king of crosswinds, and after ripping it up at the Giro for one of four wins for Fernando Gaviria, they've done it again here. They took 5 stages at the Giro and 5 at the Tour - 5 for the Vuelta?

Lampaert is the new leader of the Vuelta, courtesy of the 10 bonus seconds he picks up for the stage win. BMC had Daniel Oss in that front group but Lampaert was one of the Quick-Step riders to finish just 6 seconds back in yesterday's TTT.

Top 10

"At the moment I do not realise it. I don't know what's happening - it's really crazy for me," says Lampaert.

In terms of the GC picture, it's interesting to note the presence of Vincenzo Nibali in that front group. The Italian has therefore gained a small chunk of time on his rivals.

General Classification after stage 2

For more photos from today's stage, along full results, here's our report page.

We also have a video of the final kilometre, when Lampaert launched his attack, which you can find in our report at the link below. 

Tomorrow, it's into the Pyrenees. Bit early for mountains in a Grand Tour, but we're not complaining. 

We'll be back here, of course, for full live coverage of tomorrow's stage. Until then, keep your eyes peeled on Cyclingnews for all the latest stories from the Vuelta, including video highlights from today's stage. Hasta mañana!

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