The Australian cyclist Kaden Groves He was the winner of the second stage of the Vuelta a España by winning the sprint this Sunday in Ourem (Portugal), ahead of Belgian Wout Van Aert, who was second and is now the new leader of the general classification.
According to the criteria of
Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) finished third on Saturday in the time trial that opened this edition. He now has a six-second bonus and wears the red jersey after a 194-kilometre stage that began in Cascais.
The second of three stages on Portuguese soil that mark the start of this Vuelta had little pace and did not include any major difficulties on the route, which foreshadowed a mass finish and a sprint decision, where Groves was the fastest in the final few hundred metres against Van Aert who had attacked too early.
The Alpeucin-Deceuninck sprinter, who won the green jersey in the points classification in the last edition, thus achieved his fifth stage victory in the Spanish round.
In the general classification, Van Aert now leads by three seconds the American Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), who had won the time trial from Lisbon to Oeiras on Saturday, which is why he contested this second stage in the red jersey.
Third overall is Czech Mathias Vacek, who suffered a crash on Sunday due to overly enthusiastic spectators and was able to mitigate the damage by riding with the peloton.
Slovenian Primoz Roglic, a three-time winner of the Vuelta a España, is 20 seconds behind Van Aert in the general classification, and defending champion Sepp Kuss of the United States is now 56 seconds behind the top spot.
Electrifying packaging
Australian cyclist Kaden Groves, from Alpecin, celebrates his victory in the second stage of the Vuelta a España, this Sunday between the towns of Cascais and Ourem (Portugal). EFE/Javier Lizón
Photo:
On Sunday’s stage, Spaniards Ibon Ruiz and Luis Ángel Maté broke away but were caught 52 kilometres from the finish. In the final part of the race, all the teams seemed to be thinking about taking positions for the final sprint.
With two kilometres to go, several men went down, including Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narváez. Van Aert attacked 200 metres from the line, but Groves responded and ended up taking the objective.
SPORTS WITH AFP
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