País Vasco: Alaphilippe wins again in Bermeo

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Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) secured back-to-back stage wins at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco with another victory over Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) on stage 2.

The Frenchman broke away on the final climb with Roglic, Mikel Landa (Movistar) and Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), and after a technical descent it was Roglic who once again led out with a few hundred meters to go. In a repeat of stage 1 Alaphilippe had too much power for the LottoNL-Jumbo rider and extended his overall lead in the race to eight seconds with the stage win time bonus.

Izagirre finished third from the group with Landa fourth. Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) came home in fifth with a group of GC contenders. After two stages, Izagirre has moved up to third overall, 39 seconds off Alaphilippe’s lead.

The race boiled down to the final climb of San Pelaio. With pitches extended to 18 per cent and 3.4km of climbing, it provided the perfect launch pad for a number of attacks. At the base of the climb the remnants of the early break were caught before Michael Matthews (Sunweb) jumped clear.

The Australian has struggled for form this year but he sailed clear on the steepest sections of the climb as the peloton began to disintegrate. Despite a quick capture, Matthews accelerated again before Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) put a stop to his aggression.

The stage barely had a meter of flat terrain and the early break had taken 70km racing before establishing itself. When it finally cleared the bunch, it contained a high-calibre batch of riders, with Alexis Vuillermnoz (AG2R La Mondiale), Alessandro De Marchi and Damiano Caruso (BMC), Dani Navarro (Cofidis), Tao Geoghegan Hart and David Lopez (Sky), Tsgabu Grmay and Ruben Guerreiro (Trek – Segafredo), Michael Woods (EF – Drapac), Carlos Verona (Mitchelton – Scott) and Mark Padun (Bahrain – Merida) making an 11-strong move.

The peloton, clearly wary of the power up the road, made sure that the gap never exceeded two minutes, with Quick-Step, Movistar and LottoNL-Jumbo particularly attentive.

With 25km to go the gap to the break was down to just a minute. Verona was the first to break rank from the leaders before Lopez soloed away with 16km remaining. The Spaniard was the last man standing by the time the bunch hit the lower slopes of the final climb.

Once Mas had caught Matthews for the second time the Spaniard put in his own attack. The effects were devastating, with Movistar the only team able to muster a chase. When Mas was finally reeled in, Alaphilippe put in a violent attack of his own with 7.7km to go. Roglic, sitting second overall, took over the responsibility of chasing and when he eventually caught the Frenchman he responded with his own attack.

This was to be the key move, with only Alaphilippe, Landa and Izagirre able to respond. Quintana, Mollema, Uran and the rest were all left trailing.

On the twisty descent, the four leaders extended their advantage, and with two corners and 300m, to go Roglic hit the front. The LottoNL rider was still smarting from his defeat from 24 hours ago, and he churned a huge gear towards the line with Alaphilippe tucked in his slipstream. The Frenchman left it late, but once again had enough speed to take the win and extend his lead. Quick-Step's run continues.

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