Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana: Trentin wins stage 2

Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) took a deserved victory on stage 2 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. The Italian timed his sprint perfectly, hitting the front inside the final 150 metres during the technical run-in before edging out Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and Ben Swift (Team Sky).

Trentin came around Bouhanni just before the final two corners, while the Frenchman simply ran out of road and energy as the line approached. The rest of the sprinters were unable to get on terms, while overnight race leader Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) finished inside the top five to retain his overall lead in the race.

It was Trentin's team that animated the race during the second half of the stage. They Australian team chased down the day's break alongside Astana and then set a furious pace on the final climb in a bid to rattle the pure sprinters.

Although almost the entire bunch arrived in Alicante for the finish Mitchelton-Scott positioned Trentin near the front as Team Sky and Cofidis fought for control. However, it was Trentin who used his experience to make the difference. As Team Sky and several other hesitated the European road champion hit the front, aware that if he lead into the final corner he would be hard to stop.

"The team was amazing today. We had a plan together with Astana during the race actually to make it as hard as possible for the pure sprinters like Kristoff, Groenewegen and company. It was working pretty good actually. Chaves and Nieve did an amazing job. Then Juul-Jensen and even Adam Yates was pulling. In the final I was on the wheel of Luka [Mezgec] and when I saw someone start from really far away, I don't know who, I jumped on the wheel of Bouhanni and started the sprint with maximum speed and it worked," Trentin said at the finish.

"Last year I had a bad start to the season with crashes and injury so I wanted to do the best start possible with a victory or a really good performance so I can be a bit more relaxed going into the Classics. The first day and it's already good. For now, it's ok."

How it unfolded

The early stages of the day saw Mathias Van Gompel (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Joan Bou (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Mikel Iturria (Euskadi-Murias), Raul Alarcon (W52/FC Porto), Nigel Ellsay (Rally UHC), Ibai Azurmendi (Fundación Euskadi), Diego Rubio (Burgos-BH) and Diego Sevilla (Kometa Cycling Team). They were allowed a two-minute advantage, while Boasson Hagen's team controlled the front.

When Astana and Mitchelton began to assert their dominace the gap quickly began to tumble, and with 49km to go the break were back in the clutches of the main field. With such a long descent to the finish any aggression had to be made early, and it was on the
Alto de Carrasqueta where Trentin's squad made their efforts tell. Dylan Groenewegen was an early casualty, and although the Dutchman would, eventually regain contact before the finish he would require the services of his entire team to do so as they fought back from a 42-second deficit.

There was a brief cameo from Niki Terpstra, who was keen to give his new Direct Energie kit some valuable airtime, but when the peloton reached the outskirts of Alicante, Groenewegen had made it back and the sprinters' teams were in full control of the pace.

Dimension Data, Cofidis, Direct Energie and Team Sky all had numbers but Trentin - who won four stages of the 2017 Vuelta in sprints such as these - used his experience and speed to navigate through the finale before hitting the front just when it mattered most. He cleverly used the corner to hold his speed but also deviate his line just enough to force Bouhanni wider as the line approached. Last season it took Trentin until August to register his first win. It's only his second day of racing in 2019 and the 29-year-old is already up and running.

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