As it happened: Torrential rain, chaos and crashes on Vuelta a España stage 2

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The race was shaped by the weather in the 181.8km course from Mataró to Barcelona

Profile of stage 2 of la Vuelta a España

(Image credit: ASO/Unipublic)

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 2 of the 2023 Vuelta a España.

La Vuelta a España 2023 started on the streets of Barcelona yesterday evening in the pouring rain with Team dsm-firmenich taking the stage. This put young Italian rider, Lorenzo Milesi, into the red leader's jersey.

As we build towards what looks to be another wet day on the roads of Catalonia, here are a few links to stories from yesterday's opening stage. Including a very cross Remco Evenepoel.

Due to the rain continuing, the race organisers have decided to take the GC times with 3.6km to go. The bonuses on the Montjuic climb still apply. 

Unfortunately, we have had the first DNS of the race. Laurens De Plus heads home to recover after his heavy crash in yesterday's TTT. 

The outrage from riders yesterday weren't just about the race itself, but what the riders had to do to get to their hotels. 

Here are where all of the GC riders are after stage one:

The riders have gone to the unofficial start where they will begin the neutral zone in Mataró. 

The race has started the neutral zone and are on their way to KM0 with 175 riders starting.

New update! The GC timings will now be taken with 9km to go due to the weather making the loop around Montjuic too dangerous.

This new start means the race will start at the base of the first climb of this year's Vuelta. The Coll de Sant Bartomeu. 6.6km long and an average of 4% gradient. 

Race start with 181.8km to go

The first attacks come with three riders getting an early gap of just 10".

The first break is caught and immediately a new one is formed.

Piccolo is distanced from the leading break as more counter attacks come from behind.

170km to go

KoM sprint results (Coll de Sant Bartomeu)

Bol has finally made it to the lead making it a five man breakaway.

150km to go, gap at 3'24"

Finally, La Vuelta themselves confirm the GC times being taken with 9km to go. However, the bonus sprint on the Montjuic climb are kept, which may cause carnage.

Team dsm-firmenich are controlling the break and have brought the gap back down to 3'00"

The riders are not far away from starting the second climb of the day, the Coll d'Estenalles. 12.1km long at an average gradient of 3.9%.

130km to go, gap at 2'47"

Here is one of the videos with the caption saying "The last kilometre of the stage: fences fallen by the wind, floods and logs and branches on the road. Lots of work ahead."

The race has started the Coll d'Estenalles.

120km to go, 2'27" between the break and the peloton

Live pictures begin and we see that the rain has thankfully stopped. Team dsm-firmenich are setting what looks like a fairly quick tempo. The gap up to the break is now 2'02". 

KoM Sprint Result (Coll d'Estenalles)

100km to go

Evenepoel over a minute out of the back of the peloton

Evenepoel is still not on the back of the bunch yet. He's taken his jacket off now, showing his Belgian national champions jersey. Understandably taking his time as the race is not on yet. He looks to be okay. 

Evenepoel is finally back in the bunch. Apparently there were 15 punctures on the Coll d'Estenalles descent, including the defending champion as well as Geraint Thomas. 

80km to go, 2'03" gap

Team dsm-firmenich are really upping the pace now and there are some splits starting to form in the peloton. This isn't because of wind as the wind speed is only 11kph, although it is a cross-tail coming from their right at the moment. 

60km to go, 1'34" gap

The rain is starting to fall once again. Team dsm-firmenich are now being challenged on the front by Ineos Grenadiers, Soudal-QuickStep, Jumbo-Visma and Movistar.

Crash

The breakaway has split with Romo, Piccolo and Sobrero distancing Nicolau and Bol. They have 1'52" on the chasing bunch. 

40km to go, 1'57" gap

Multiple GC teams coming back towards to the front once again and that is seeing the gap start to drop a bit more between the bunch and the three riders left up at the front. 

Abandon

There is a group of around 30 riders off the back of the peloton as UAE Team Emirates, Ineos Grenadiers, Soudal-QuickStep and Jumbo-Visma join Team dsm-firmenich on the front once again.

More crashes being reported with Rui Oliveira of UAE Team Emirates said to have gone down. 

Crashes

Piccolo makes it back to the leaders with help from the Jayco-AlUla car as both Sobrero and Romo will always appreciate the extra help.

Primož Roglič and Geraint Thomas make it back into the peloton. 

Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep demanding that the pace is dropped by the other teams in the bunch but Team dsm-firmenich, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Ineos Grenadiers are refusing. 

Matteo Sobrero can give no more in the breakaway and is distanced by Andrea Piccolo and Javier Romo. 

Another crash

20km to go, 54" gap

Crash for red jersey

Alpecin-Deceuninck lead the peloton as they apparently believe in Kaden Groves despite the Montjuic climb near the end. 

Intermediate sprint result (Cornella de Llobregat)

10km to go, 39" gap

Andrea Piccolo is the new red jersey. The gap is supposedly around 20" in the lead with Romo ahead of the peloton. That means he has 14" on the Team dsm-firmenich and Movistar riders. 

Break immediately caught as the race goes into the lap heading to the Castell de Montjuic climb. Groupama-FDJ lead the way with Team dsm-firmenich.  

Peloton sits up and allows a group of about 25 go up the road for the stage win. 

4km to go.

Andreas Kron of Lotto-Dstny goes solo but he is being gained on by a chasing group of four riders including Remy Rochas of Cofidis. 

Kron still leads as he goes under the Flamme Rouge and he has a teammate disrupting the chase. 

Andreas Kron wins stage two of La Vuelta a España 2023! 

Kaden Groves leads in the chasing group over the line to take second place. 

Kron pointed to the sky in his celebration as he dedicated the win to the late Tilj de Decker, who passed away this week at the age of 22. 

Stage two top 10 (Mataró to Barcelona)

Read the post race report by clicking the link below.

We now have what is likely to be a long wait as the organisers work out what the GC is with all the bonus seconds but also the times taken at 9km to go. 

Andreas Kron on the podium after he took the stage. Just his fourth career win. 

The new red jersey is EF Education-EasyPost's Andrea Piccolo.

The first rider to pull on the new-look green jersey at La Vuelta is Andreas Kron thanks to his stage win.

Matteo Sobrero won the Category Two climb so goes into the polka dot jersey despite being level on points with Javier Romo.

Andrea Piccolo takes white as well as red in a perfect day for the Italian.

With no sign of a top 10 general classification, that will be that from Cyclingnews. Join us again tomorrow for stage three of the Spanish Grand Tour as the riders head the Pyrenees and Andorra. Goodbye. 

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