Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2024 Stage 2

March 19, 2024 Stage 2 offers a true climbing test from the warm valley up to snow covered mountains, 2000M above sea level. Six riders were kept in check by UAE with no more than three minutes lead throughout the day. Rain started to fall with just over 50KM to go with heavy, dense fog rolling through the finish making the conditions challenging for all. Jimmy Janssens of Alpecin-Deceuninck and Samuel Fernández of Caja Rural split the front group, going off together with 47KM to go. In the peloton on the decent of the Coll de Coubet, Tadej Pogačar of UAE got a little gap of five or six seconds on the others. He was joined by two teammates. They decided to push on, leaving Visma-Lease a Bike to organize the chase but it was all back together by the the bottom. All the riders felt the cold as pouring rain continued through the valley and followed them up the entire climb. UAE set the pace on Vallter 2000 and it was not long before the main group was reduced to around ten riders. Pictures cut away as the broadcast was interrupted due to poor weather conditions. As we could tell from intermittent coverage, Janssens was caught early on the climb, Pogačar attacked solo with only six riders behind to chase. Mikel Landa of Soudal Quickstep seemed to be feeling the best in that chase group, always pushing and trying to get clear. Aleksandr Vlasov of Bora-Hansgrohe was able to latch on to Landa as the others fell away. Landa crossed the line almost a minute and a half behind Pogačar, Vlasov finished third and other main contenders came in minutes later.