Preview of the Giro? Juan Ayuso and Primoz Roglic battle it out in Catalonia, Spanish rider wins

After a chaotic, rain-soaked first day, Tuesday was a day for the sprinters. Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike) had already won the first stage, but he just couldn't live up to his favorite status in stage two: Ethan Vernon (Israel - Premier Tech) beat him at the finish line. After two sprints, Wednesday was all about the climbers: a grueling mountain stage with no less than 5000 meters of climbing was on the program, with the finish in La Molina. Two years ago, Remco Evenepoel managed to beat Primoz Roglic here.

The long and challenging stage was perfect for a strong breakaway group to make a move, but it failed to materialize. In the end, four men managed to make the difference: Alex Molenaar (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) was joined by Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Mats Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Lorenzo Germani (Groupama FDJ). They were a nice group and gained a nice lead; it grew to almost seven minutes. But as the riders approached the end of the race, that advantage steadily decreased.

The most important obstacle in the final was the Coll de la Creueta, a climb of no less than 20 kilometers at 5%. There, the lead of the group of five was further reduced, thanks to the work of UAE Team Emirates - XRG. Domen Novak did what he did best and pushed hard at the front on the mountain's lower slopes. But the pace in the leading group also picked up, with Armirail being the strongest: the experienced French rider pulled away from his breakaway companions. He set a fast pace again, increasing his lead as Novak did not ride fast enough. Lotto, therefore, took over the lead.

UAE reclaimed the lead from the top, but the pace was not yet very high. A bizarre crash involving Lenny Martinez and Finlay Pickering was between the walls of snow. The Bahrain Victorious riders were on the road at the feed zone at the top of the mountain. The young British rider was worst off, while the small French rider could catch up with the peloton. The peloton then descended towards the final climb to La Molina.

UAE Emirates-XRG then began the final climb quickly, but it was not easy to create a split on the not-so-steep stretches of La Molina. Pure climbers like Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Emanuel Buchmann (Cofidis) tried, but the first attack came from Sepp Kuss. Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) crept up to the climber from Visma | Lease a Bike, causing the other GC riders to take action to neutralize the attempt.

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe then tucked in at the front to put Roglic in position. George Bennett (Israel), Marc Soler (UAE), and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) tried to break away with three of them, but Kuss again caught up. The American from Visma | Lease a Bike knows the roads in Catalonia well and made good use of that in the last kilometers. His breakaway companions also took advantage of this.

However, the group behind them did not sit still either, allowing Kuss and co. to come back into sight in the final kilometer. This resulted in a sprint with a select group in which Roglic and Ayuso positioned themselves well. Soler accelerated in the sprint, but Roglic took the lead. Ayuso tried to catch up and eventually won.