Vuelta a San Juan Stage 2 – Live Coverage

Hello and welcome to second stage of the Vuelta a San Juan, a UCI 2.Pro event. Although it is not a WorldTour race, it remains one of the most important kick-off events of 2020.

The WorldTour opener just finished yesterday at the Tour Down Under where Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) won the overall title. The Vuelta a San Juan has attracted a strong field that includes riders like Peter Sagan, Fernando Gaviria and Julian Alaphilippe.

Rudy Barbier (Israel Start-Up Nation) grabbed the first win of the seven-day race yesterday, taking the bunch sprint on stage 1 in San Juan. 

A crash caused by a spectator with 3.5km to go took down many of the favourites including Remco Evenepoel, however, officials granted the victims of the crash the same time as the front group.

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150km to go

There is a breakaway of eight riders:

Agrupacion Virgin de Fatima-Saddledrunk - Daniel Juarez (Arg) and Leandro Velardez (Spa)

Fundacion-Orbea - Iker Ballarin Manso (Spa)

Rally Cycling - Robin Carpenter (USA)

Peru - Royner Navarro (Per), Robinson Ruiz (Per), Hugo Ruiz (Per)

Argentina - Francisco Monte (Arg)

The breakaway has settle into a good rhythm with a gap of 1:50 minutes over a chasing field.

Crash

Unfortunately, a stray dog has run into the breakaway causing a crash. One rider went down but is back up on his bike. It looks like it was Robinson Ruiz from the Peru national team. He is now back in the main field. I'll have an update on that soon.

134km to go

The eight riders in the breakaway have extended their lead out to 2 minutes. Team Argentina and Puertas de Cuyo are doing the bulk of the chasing at the front of the main field.

Stage 2 started in Pocito, where it will also finish. The peloton will be racing for 168.7km on a relatively flat course. 

There are two intermediate sprints at 65.8km in Villa Santa Rosa and at 128.3km in Villa Aberastain. At the second intermediate sprint, the peloton will complete two laps of the city-centre streets before contesting the sprint. 

In between those two sprints, there is a category 3 climb that peaks at the 102.3km mark.

It will be a fast finish, and once the peloton makes the final lefthand turn off of main road, they will race a pan-flat and straight 3km to the finish line in Pocito.

It’s mid-summer in Argentina and upwards of 35 Celsius in Pocito today, although that temperature might drop slightly as the men are racing in the late-afternoon and into the early-evening. 

The expected finish time is 8:30pm (local time) to allow the community to come out and watch the race after work.

Crash - replay

Below is a replay of the crash caused by a stray dog that ran into the breakaway. The crash took down Robinson Ruiz from the Peru national team, and one other rider, who we have not identified yet. Ruiz is back up on his bike and racing in the main field.

120km to go

The riders in the breakaway are holding 2:07 on the main field. Those riders/bib# are as follows:

Agrupacion Virgin de Fatima-Saddledrunk - Daniel Juarez (Arg / #155) and Leandro Velardez (Spa / #154)

Fundacion-Orbea - Iker Ballarin Manso (Spa / #85)

Panama - Christofer Jurado (Pan / #242)

Rally Cycling - Robin Carpenter (USA / #103)

Peru - Royner Navarro (Per / #251), Hugo Ruiz (Per / #252)

Argentina - Francisco Monte (Arg / #205)

The breakaway riders will be coming up to the first intermediate sprint in Villa Santa Rosa shortly.

The crash caused by a stray dog running into the breakaway earlier in this stage 2 is the second major crash of the race in as many days. 

Yesterday's stage 1 saw a spectator cause a crash at the 3.5km to go mark during the lead-out into the final sprint.

That crash caused a massive pile-up and some favourites to go down including Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep). Officials awarded those involved in that crash the same time as the main field.

Read more about that crash in the article here.

103km to go

The gap to the breakaway if falling. It's now down to 1:30.

The peloton is led by riders from teams Puertas de Cuyo, Israel Start-Up Nation, and Deceuninck-QuickStep has added one rider to the chase. 

The race is currently playing out along a straight main two-lane highway through agricultural areas surrounding Pocito in the province of San Juan. The riders must be baking in the heat, which is upwards of 35 Celsius and there no shade to be seen anywhere across the tarmac.

Intermediate sprint #1 - Villa Santa Rosa

Daniel Juarez (Agrupacion Virgin de Fatima-Saddledrunk) took the top points in the first intermediate sprint. 

If you missed yesterday's stage 1, Rudy Barbier (Israel Start-Up Nation) won the stage and took the first leader's jersey of the race. The overall classification top 10 is below:

1 - Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation - 3:45:04

2 - Manuel Belletti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec - 0:00:04

3 - Tomas Contte (Arg) Municipalidad de Pocito - 0:00:06

4 - Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui (Col) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:00:10

5 - Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Col) UAE Team Emirates

6 - Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe

7 - Roman Maikin (Rus) Russia

8 - Luca Wackermann (Ita) Vini Zabu' KTM

9 - Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates

10 - Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits

The breakaway is headed toward the first and only climb of the day. It is a category 3 climb.

American rider Robin Carpenter (Rally) is taking his turn on the front. He is a proven rider on shorter stage races having won the now-defunct Tour of Alberta.

72km to go

The eight riders are holding 1:47 over the field.

Agrupacion Virgin de Fatima-Saddledrunk teammates Daniel Juarez and Leandro Velardez are taking back-to-back pulls ahead of their breakaway companions.  Aside from some minor attacks after the first intermediate sprint, the breakaway has been working well together, currently riding at 47kph.

Back in the main field, we've seen glimpses of some of the sprinters; Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) looking relaxed, chatting to riders around them and taking sips from their water bottles.

Overall leader Rudy Barbier is also looking comfortable surrounded by his Israel Start-Up Nation teammates and staying safely hidden in the bunch.

KOM (category 3) - 63km to go

Two riders have attacked the breakaway in pursuit of the KOM points. Francisco Monte (Argentina) picked up the top points ahead of Royner Navarro (Peru).

The climb was located along a straight highway and resembled more of a long gradual rise or overpass. Monte raced under the KOM banner first, followed a few seconds later by Navarro. 

Once they were over the line, however, they both sat up and waited for the remaining riders from the breakaway to catch back up.

The breakaway is passing through the feed zone and picking up their bags of food, snacks and extra water bottles.

For the most part, the field is led by riders from Israel Start-Up Nation, Puertas de Cuyo, UAE Team Emirates, and Deceuninck-QuickStep. But no team has more than one or two riders contributing to the chase. 

50km to go

There are just under 50km to go in the stage and the breakaway has pushed their lead out slightly to 1:45.

There is still one more intermediate sprint located in Villa Aberastain where they will complete two full circuits before contesting the sprint, and then heading back onto the main road back to Pocito.

To recap, the riders in the breakaway are:

Agrupacion Virgin de Fatima-Saddledrunk - Daniel Juarez (Arg / #155) and Leandro Velardez (Spa / #154)

Fundacion-Orbea - Iker Ballarin Manso (Spa / #85)

Panama - Christofer Jurado (Pan / #242)

Rally Cycling - Robin Carpenter (USA / #103)

Peru - Royner Navarro (Per / #251), Hugo Ruiz (Per / #252)

Argentina - Francisco Monte (Arg / #205)

The breakaway

Intermediate sprint #2 - Villa Aberastain - 36km to go

The breakaway has sprinted for intermediate points offered in Villa Aberastain with Daniel Juarez (Agrupacion Virgin de Fatima-Saddledrunk) picking up the full points for crossing the line first.

There is some tension in the breakaway as we get closer to the finish line. Two riders have attacked; Christofer Jurado (Panama) and Royner Navarro (Peru).

The peloton has significantly closed down the gap and they can all but see the breakaway riders, who are just under one minute up the road.

26km to go

Christofer Jurado (Panama) is now alone at the front as Royner Navarro (Peru) has lost contact with the leader.

Rally's Robin Carpenter has bridge across to Jurado and the pair are holding roughly 15 seconds on the chase group, and 1 minute on the field.

Deceuninck-QuickStep has one rider towing the field and shutting down the gap to the breakaway. The gap is coming down, now at about 50 seconds.

A look at the front of the main field and we are starting to see the formation of teams getting ready to begin lead-out preparations. Deceuninck-QuickStep are all together now, as are UAE Team Emirates, Bora-Hansgrohe and Cofidis. 

The field is still relatively wide across the road, however, but will begin to single-out as they get closer to the finish in Pocito. 

Fernando Gaviria has slotted in behind his UAE teammates near the front of the field. It's still the Argentinean team Puertas de Cuyo leading the way, as they have been for much of the race.

Bora-Hansgrohe's Pawel Poljanski is now leading the main field, and the gap to the breakaway of Jurado and Carpenter is down to 30 seconds.

Jurado and Carpenter are trying to get every last second out of this breakaway, but the peloton is looming behind them at only 10 seconds back.

Crash - 12.9km to go

There has been another crash with 12.9km to go. Two riders are seen climbing out of a ditch at the side of the road, while there are several other riders on the other side of the road scrambling to pick up their bikes.

Breakaway is caught - 10km to go

Deceuninck-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe are leading the peloton, and they have just caught and passed breakaway riders Jurado and Carpenter. 

Movistar has now joined the front of the field alongside Bora-Hansgrohe and Deceuninck-QuickStep

Puertas de Cuyo are back on the front with four riders but Deceuninck-QuickStep are pushing their way further forward with Bora-Hansgrohe, and now Bardiani CSF Faizane' are putting riders in the mix.

The lead-outs have begun with Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec taking up the reigns alongside Cofidis, Movistar and Israel Start-Up Nation on one side of the road, while Bora-hansgrohe is moving back up with Peter Sagan on the right side.

They have made the left turn off of the main highway and it's a straight shot to the finish line in Pocito from here.

Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec are giving it everything just to stay ahead of the arguably more powerful teams like Deceuninck-QuickStep, but with 1.5km to go, they may have burned their matches.

Deceuninck-QuickStep is still on the front, but the sprint has started.

Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) has won stage 2 at the Vuelta a San Juan

Vuelta a San Juan - stage 2 results

Fernando Gaviria's winning sprint on stage 2 at the Vuelta a San Juan

Thank you for following along with our live coverage of the Vuelta a San Juan. Join us again tomorrow for stage 3's 15.5km time trial from Ullum to Punta Negra.