Red jersey as a consolation for Van Aert and Visma | Lease a Bike, who were beaten by strong groves this time

Kaden Groves won the second stage of the Vuelta a España. The Australian rider from Alpecin-Deceuninck was the fastest in the bunch sprint after a leisurely stage. Wout van Aert finished second but, thanks to bonus seconds, he becomes the new leader in the general classification.

The opening time trial ended in a surprise, with Brandon McNulty defeating all the top favorites. Van Aert fell short, as did Joshua Tarling. However, Van Aert still had plenty of chances, losing only three seconds to the American from UAE Team Emirates. This meant that a podium finish in the second stage would likely be enough for him to take the red jersey.

The first road stage was one for the sprinters. Although the roads in Portugal are never truly flat, a bunch sprint was expected at the end of the day. The riders started in Cascais and covered 194 kilometers to Ourém. The final part of the stage was challenging, with the Alto da Batalha as the toughest test. The top of the 6.9-kilometer climb (3.3% average gradient) was 19 kilometers before the finish. The first two kilometers of the hill had an average gradient of over 7%, which was expected to pose difficulties for the pure sprinters.

The first mountain points were up for grabs just 8.5 kilometers after the start, so a fierce battle for the first (real) mountain jersey was anticipated. However, when Luis Ángel Maté (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma) broke away, the peloton remained quiet. The two Spaniards were left alone and managed to escape without any problems. The 40-year-old Maté was the first to reach the mountain top, securing two mountain points.

Van Baarle's (Visma | Lease a Bike) crash in dramatically slow stage

The two riders at the front didn't seem eager to exhaust themselves, and the peloton wasn't in a hurry to catch them either. As a result, the stage turned into a really slow one: after eighty kilometers, the average speed was 33.5 kilometers per hour. The breakaway duo never got far from the pack, with the gap hovering between three and four minutes, peaking at five minutes.

Then, with 90 kilometers to go, something finally happened. Rainer Kepplinger (Bahrain-Victorious) caught his handlebars in a bag from his own support team, causing a crash involving Dylan van Baarle. Despite the low speed, the Dutch rider from Visma | Lease a Bike remained on the ground for a long time, visibly in pain. He eventually got back on his bike but reported to the medical car. Not long after, the much-feared news arrived: Van Baarle did not finish (DNF), a tough blow for Visma | Lease a Bike.

Read more below the tweet!

Everyone was mainly looking forward to the battle for the red jersey. Would Van Aert collect enough bonus seconds, or would Vacek outsmart him? At the intermediate sprint, there were 6, 4 and 2 bonus seconds available for the top three finishers. However, the two Spanish leaders were still ahead, while Kaden Groves took the two seconds (and a significant number of points) from the peloton. No differences yet between Van Aert and Vacek!

Red jersey contender Vacek crashes after alleged contact with spectator, Groves beats Van Aert in sprint

All eyes were on the potentially treacherous Alto da Batalha, a fourth-category climb: 7.1 kilometers at 3.3%. At the start of the climb, white jersey holder Vacek crashed (after a collision with a spectator?!), but fortunately, it seemed to be without serious consequences. The Czech rider quickly resumed his ride with a different bike.

Read more below the tweet!

A few riders were dropped on the Alto da Batalha, though not many. It looked like we were heading for a large group sprint in Ourém, and that's exactly what happened. However, there were a few more crashes in the final phase. Among others, Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers) went down.

In the sprint, Van Aert seemed to be in a good position but was overwhelmed by another top favorite, Groves. The Aussie proved to be much faster than the rest. As a consolation, Van Aert can now call himself the new leader in the general classification.

Results stage 2 Vuelta a España 2024

Results powered by FirstCycling.com