Pais Vasco: Felline wins stage 2 in Vitoria-Gasteiz

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Fabio Felline (Trek Factory Racing) won the stage 2 bunch sprint at the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco on Tuesday. The Italian out-kicked current overall leader and stage 1 winner Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) and Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal).

It was Felline's first-ever victory at WorldTour level, and his first sprint victory since the 2013 Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali. "It’s a bit of a surprise but it’s nice to win," he said. "I haven’t won, and especially won a sprint, for a long time. I won the time trial at the recent Criterium International and so I knew I was in good shape and had good legs. It’s about using them when you have them.

"To be honest, I came here with the goal of winning something. A chance came my way and so I’m very, very happy. I really want to thank all the team who have helped me and encouraged me recently. I had a puncture with about 40km to go but I got back on and felt good. In the sprint I was well placed and took my chance. I managed to start my sprint before Matthews and managed to hold him off.

"This is a dream come true. It’s my first-ever WorldTour win, so I’m so happy."

Matthews, who took the overall race lead after winning the opening stage in Bilbao on Monday, holds on to the top spot in the standings but with the same time as runner-up and world champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) and Felline in third.

How it happened

The stage 1 victory might have been somewhat of a surprise to Matthews and his Orica-GreenEdge team given that it was such a hilly stage. The second stage, however, was perfectly suited to the sprinters with a 175.4km race from Bilbao to Vitoria-Gasteiz, the longest stage of Pais Vasco. The relatively flatter stage did have five small climbs on route Orduña (cat 1), Salinas de Añana (cat 3), San Martín de Zar (cat 3), Zaldiarán (cat 3), Vitoria (cat 3) and Alto de Zaldiarán (cat 3) but Matthews showed his top climbing form on the previous day’s more difficult ascents.

The start of the race was slightly delayed as the peloton held a five-minute protest against the race organizers. The riders were angry over the high-speed and dangerous finish of stage 1, which had a series of metal poles sticking up at the sides of the road. Four riders were injured in a crash 500 metres from the finish line including Peter Stetina (BMC), who was taken to the hospital with a fractured kneecap and ribs.

Once the racing got underway, it wasn’t long before a breakaway formed with Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Sebastien Reichenbach IAM Cycling), Louis Vervaeke (Lotto Soudal), Thierry Hupond (Giant Alpecin), Kevin de Weert (LottoNL-Jumbo). Txurruka was the highest place in GC with the same time as Matthews.

The breakaway dwindled to three riders over the day’s KOM ascents with Vervaeke, Reichenbach and Txurruka staying out front. Txurruka had taken the bulk of the points on the climbs throughout the stage.

The escapees’ gap dropped to just over a minute with 30km to go, and down again to 15 seconds with 20km left, as Orica-GreenEdge riders led the main field with a steady tempo, and their leader Matthews safely tucked in behind. Movistar riders also moved toward the front to keep their GC rider Nairo Quintana out of trouble.

Katusha emerged and put in a big effort for their sprinter Ilnur Zakarin, pulling the field at quick speeds of roughly 65 km/h into final short climb of the Zaldiarán, so that their riders were well positioned over the top and down the descent to the finish line. Once the peloton was on the slopes, Tinkoff-Saxo, Lampre-Merida, Astana and BMC also moved to the front of the field.

In one last effort, breakaway rider Reichenbach attacked on the climb but Txurruka came around him over the top to take the last set of mountain points during the stage. He also took the mountains jersey from the previous day’s breakaway rider, teammate Omar Fraile (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).

Over the top, the breakaway was swallowed up and the field barreled down the high-speed, twisty descent into Vitoria-Gasteiz. Tom Jelte Slagter (Cannondale-Garmin) used his top descending skills to create a small gap with four kilometres to go, forcing Etixx-QuickStep to take up the bulk of the chase.

Slagter was caught with two and a half kilometres to go as Etixx-QuickStep again led the field into the finale, and with Orica-GreenEdge and Lotto Soudal taking over.

Under the flamme rouge, the field raced through two more roundabouts and Etixx-QuickStep emerged with a lead-out, but their efforts did not pay off and Felline stole the win ahead of Matthews and Gallopin, leaving Kwiatkowski to settle for fourth.

Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco will continue with stage 3’s 170.7km race from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Zumarraga on Wednesday.

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