It was Stage 2 of the Vuelta a Espana and, like yesterday, the riders were not hanging around. Lots of attackity action, fast riding on the front and a solo victory that came out of a cheeky attack from the red jersey group. Movistarlet Marc Soler rode to a fine solo win, while Primoz Roglic wasn’t giving anything away to the rivals around him and picked up extra seconds as he sprinted for second.
Reduced to 18 stages, the 75th Vuelta a Espana kicked off today in the Basque Country and wasted no time in heading for the hills with a summit finish atop Arrate, which features each year in Itzulia (Tour of Basque Country). Defending champion and Jumbo Bee Primoz Roglic finished where he left off 13 months ago in the red leader’s jersey. His rocket-like counter-attack in the final 600 metres from a select leading group saw him solo across the line. Ineos’ Richard Carapaz finished runner-up and Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up) rounded out the podium.
Stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia saw action all over the place. Once again, the winner came from the breakaway, with Jan Tratnik of Bahrain-McLaren taking the win by blasting away from Ben O’Connor (NTT) in the final kilometre. The peloton, packed full of the GC riders, took things easy until the final ascent where Joao Almeida of Quickstep took a whole load of psychological advantage and even grabbed some seconds.
