2018 Vuelta a España Stage 2 Results & Recap
Stage 2 of the 2018 Vuelta a España is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Valverde wins stage 2\nBy Clara Beard
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) timed his uphill sprint perfectly to outkick Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) after a long hot day from Marbella to Caminito del Rey. The win marked the tenth time the Spanish star has claimed a stage at the Vuelta a Espana.
“I’m delighted,” Valeverde said. “In the Tour de France, I didn’t get all the good sensations I was looking for. And now I feel like I have the condition I was looking for. It had been some time since I had won a stage at La Vuelta and I wanted to get one, so I’m very happy. De Plus went very hard. I calculated the distance and went with 550-600m to go. When we got back to De Plus, I let Kwiatkowski move ahead, and I overcame him in the last curve. So far, I’ve achieved the goal of winning a stage and we’ll see how things go day by day.”
Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) takes over the red jersey after finishing second to the Movistar captain.
“It’s not the way I wanted to take the jersey, I was hoping to win the stage. The team was amazing ahead of the finale but Valverde was very impressive. In his country, when he races La Vuelta, it’s not easy to beat Alejandro. It’s a bit disappointing but I’m leader of La Vuelta, I’m happy about yesterday, about my shape today… Let’s stay focus and try to win some other one. I just want to celebrate this moment. La Vuelta is really long. I think stages 4 and 5 are very important. I want to enjoy tonight and then racing in the red jersey tomorrow.”
With a KOM climb starting almost immediately after the start, seven riders escaped the main bunch: Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Pierre Rolland (EF Education First-Drapac), Pablo Torres (Burgos-BH), Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) and Hector Saez (Euskadi-Murias). They gained a maximum of four minutes before the latter part of the stage, when BMC and Bora Hansgrohe cranked up the speed.
The last rider to be reeled in from the break was Rolland with less than 20 kilometres to go. From there, Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step Floors) tried a late attack with 1.5km left, but it was too much too soon, and he was passed by Valverde and Kwiatkowski moments before the line.\n
Get our full coverage of the Vuelta a España and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.
