Cycling: Kaden Groves has won the second stage of the Vuelta a Espana. The Australian was significantly faster than the competition in the mass sprint. Wout van Aert can be happy about the red jersey.
Groves wins ahead of van Aert and Strong
The Vuelta a Espana and Caden Groves (Alpecin – Deceuninck) – that just seems to fit. After the Australian had already won three stages last year, he is simply continuing exactly where he left off this year. After 194 kilometers from Cascais to Ourém, he was clearly the fastest man in a hectic mass sprint. He beat wout van aert (Visma – LAB) from Belgium and the New Zealander Corbin Strong (Israel – Premier Tech) to second and third place. Nevertheless, van Aert can be happy because due to the time bonus he now takes over the red jersey from Brandon McNulty (UAE).
Maté & Ruiz in the breakaway group
As expected, only a few riders dared to go on the offensive early in the race on today's stage. The Spaniards Luis Angel Mate (Euskaltel – Euskadi) and Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma) secured the mountain classification on the Alto do Lagoa Azul in exactly this order, but were caught again long before the finish without any chance of winning the day. The duo worked well together, however. The experienced Maté, at 40, is a full 15 years older than his current companion and is competing in his last Vuelta a Espana. However, he cannot be happy about the mountain jersey, because Stefan Kung (Groupama – FDJ) won the second mountain classification of the day and will therefore start again tomorrow in the white jersey with the blue dots.
Spectators disrupt the race
When the Alto da Batalha had to be climbed, the breakaway duo had already been caught. The battles for the top positions had already begun, although there were still more than 30 kilometers to go. Unfortunately, it was once again the unteachable spectators who had an unpleasant influence on the race. On the road to the Alto da Batalha, they repeatedly jumped in front of the professional cyclists, ran after them and even touched them. This was one of the reasons why Mathias Vacek (Lidl – Trek). The Czech finished second yesterday and had hoped to take the red jersey today. He had to put this plan aside. But at least he was able to continue the race. Things went worse for Dylan van baarle (Visma – LAB). The Dutchman fell early in the race and had to abandon the race.
Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) during Stage 2 of the Vuelta in Spain 2024 #LaVuelta24 #Noticiclismo #ciclismo pic.twitter.com/VKb8xLyUMS
— NotiCiclismo #LaVuelta24 (@Noticiclismo1) August 18, 2024