Vuelta a España: Valverde wins stage 2

On a stage officially designated as flat, the Vuelta a España instead served up enough difficulty to upend the overall classification as Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) out-sprinted Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) to take the stage in Caminito del Rey. Earlier attacker Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step Floors) was third.

"I'm delighted," Valverde said. "In the Tour [de France], I didn't get all the good sensations I was looking for. And now I feel like I have the condition I was looking for. It had been some time since I had won a stage at La Vuelta and I wanted to get one, so I'm very happy."

Team Sky set a vicious pace on the rolling finale, distancing overnight leader Rohan Dennis (BMC), putting Kwiatkowski into the race lead with Valverde in second at 14 seconds. Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) lies third at 25 seconds.

The stage all seemed to be going to script for a so-called flat stage, with BMC Racing Team working to reel in the last of the day's breakaway, Pierre Rolland (EF-Drapac) and Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), but with 30km to go, Team Sky came to the front and lifted the pace dramatically.

Movistar were all too happy to help, and with world champion Peter Sagan suffering, Bora-Hansgrohe and the other sprinters teams faded to the back.

The peloton stretched until finally with 16km to go, splits began to form, with Dennis and teammate Richie Porte among those on the wrong end of the gap.

With 8km to go, the second peloton was already four minutes behind and Sky continued to pour on the pressure, sending first Vincenzo NIbali (Bahrain-Merida) out the back on the final climb to the line, the Alto de Guadalhorce (7.1km at 2.8%), and then with 3km to go his teammate Gorka Izagirre.

De Plus put in an attack with 1km to go, but within sight of the line he was overtaken by Valverde, who had Kwiatkowski in tow. The Spaniard proved too strong for the Team Sky rider, but the red jersey belonged to Kwiatkowski.

"De Plus went very hard. I calculated the distance and went with 550-600m to go," Valverde said. "When we got back to De Plus, I let Kwiatkowski move ahead, and I overtook him in the last curve. So far, I've achieved the goal of winning a stage and we'll see how things go day by day."

How it unfolded

The opening road stage of the Vuelta was officially described as ‘flat’ by the race organisation, but the presence of four categorised climbs, constantly rolling roads and an uphill kick to the line suggested the designation was a rather deceptive one.

The climbing began as soon as the race left Marbella, with the peloton facing into the category 2 Puerto de Ojen in the opening kilometres. Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Pierre Rolland (EF-Drapac), Pablo Torres (Burgos-BH), Jonathan Lastras (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) and Hector Saez (Euskadi-Murias) pressed clear on the lower slopes of the ascent, and they were granted some early freedom by the peloton, which was being controlled by the BMC team of red jersey Rohan Dennis.

Mate, a Marbella resident, led the break to the summit with a buffer of 3:10 over the peloton, and that established a pattern for the next couple of hours of racing. The Cofidis rider was again first to the top of the Alto de Guadalhorce, which brought the race past the finish line for the first time after 90km, by which point the escapees had stretched their advantage out to four minutes.

With proven strongmen like Rolland and De Gendt in the break, however, the peloton was reluctant to allow them too much latitude. Bora-Hansgrohe joined the chase effort with 70km remaining, and Marcus Burghardt’s stint of brisk pace-making helped to pin the margin back inside three minutes.

A shade over 50km from home, the break lost an important piston when De Gendt was distanced, and he then opted to sit up and spare himself for the other battles in the days ahead. Mate led the break over the Alto de Ardales with 43km to go, but by that point, the gap was down to 1:40 and the break’s unity was beginning to fray.

When Gougeard attacked with 32km to go, only Rolland could follow, but the French pairing were already racing on borrowed time as Team Sky had taken up the pace-making in the bunch for the first time.

Sky were joined shortly afterwards by Movistar, and their combined efforts altered the complexion of the race, as the gap to the surviving escapees suddenly dwindled and splits developed in the main peloton.

Red jersey Rohan Dennis and his BMC teammate Richie Porte were among those unable to follow, and they would yield more than 13 minutes before day’s end, coming home in a large gruppetto that also included Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Out in front, meanwhile, Rolland dropped Gougeard with 20km to go, but was himself pegged back almost immediately by the reduced peloton, which was now travelling at a considerable rate of knots thanks to the impetus of Sky and Movistar.

Vincenzo Nibali and his Bahrain-Merida teammate Gorka Izagirre were among the riders shaken loose by Sky and Movistar’s hyperactive pace on the twisting roads that led towards the foot of the final haul up the Alto de Guadalhorce. The gentle lower slopes of the climb meant that there was little scope for late attacking, particularly at such high speeds, with Nelson Oliveira especially prominent for Movistar.

When the gradient stiffened in the final 1,500 metres, Laurens De Plus launched a vicious acceleration that saw him pass beneath the flamme rouge with a small advantage over the reduced peloton. De Plus extended that gap thanks to some hesitation among the chasers, but although, officially, the top of the climb came 400 metres from the finish, the road kicked up once more in the closing metres.

Valverde sensed the danger and produced a smooth acceleration to jump across to De Plus, bringing Kwiatkowski with him. The Pole proceeded to lead out the sprint for stage victory, but he was overhauled within sight of the line by Valverde, who claimed the 10th Vuelta stage victory of his career. Kwiatkowski could console himself with the red jersey of race leader.

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