Drama for Belgian Steff Cras in Asturias, as Ivan Garcia Cortina takes his first win in 3 years

After the first stage, in which Belgian rider Cras finally broke the dominance of UAE Team Emirates XRG by defeating Marc Soler in a sprint à deux following a tough mountain stage, the riders were once again faced with plenty of climbing today. The finale included four categorized climbs, with the last one coming ten kilometers from the finish.

In the second stage of the Spanish stage race, five riders quickly went on the attack. Among the breakaway group, both Movistar and UAE Team Emirates XRG had one rider each represented, which immediately had an impact. The lead quickly grew to ten minutes with still 90 kilometers to go.

After the first climbs were behind them, the breakaway group still held a large lead, maintaining just under six minutes over the peloton. Meanwhile, yesterday’s stage winner and overall race leader, Cras, had to abandon after crashing on the descent of one of the climbs.

On the next climb, the UAE Team Emirates riders took action again. Antonio Morgado, Marc Soler, and Adrià Pericas attacked together from the peloton, heading toward the breakaway riders, most of whom had already been caught, except for two: Ivan Garcia Cortina of Movistar and Julius Johansen of UAE Team Emirates XRG. With two climbs remaining, they had a small lead over chaser Soler.

With 25 kilometers to go, the two leaders had a three-minute advantage over the peloton, while Soler had closed the gap to just a minute and a half. But it wasn’t enough, so the two at the front would battle for the win. Cortina proved to be the stronger rider.