Place Name: Avenida Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira
Address: Avenida Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira 247, 2490-515 Ourém, Santarém, Portugal
Details: August 18, 2024
The first road stage should be one of a few opportunities for the sprinters but the final few kilometers are generally down hill so positioning in the lead out will be as crucial as ever.
Ibon Ruiz of Equipo Kern Pharma and Luis Ángel Maté of Euskaltel-Euskadi were the only attackers, going as the flag dropped. A headwind slowed the race down quite a bit and the break never got more than 3 minutes. The duo were caught with 52KM to go but the speed had not really picked up and the peloton was still just rolling along.
The first action came with 30KM to go when Mauri Vansevenant of T-Rex Quickstep attacked with Marc Soler of UAE. Three others bridged but Visma-Lease a Bike brought the race back together quickly. The final 10KM was lightning fast.
A crash in the top 25 riders at 2KM to go caused a small split but the main contenders for the stage were all present. Edoardo Affini of Visma-Lease a Bike did an incredible lead out from 1KM to 150M when Wout van Aert started his sprint. He came across the road from right to left but Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Deceuninck shot up the middle to win by half a bike length, his first win of the season. Van Aert did not get the win but, with the bonus seconds, took over the Red Jersey as race leader. Corbin Strong of Israel-Premier Tech came across the line in third place.
Tags: La Vuelta Ciclista a España, 2024, August, Stage 2, La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2024, Cascais, Ourém, Ibon Ruiz, Luis Ángel Maté, Mauri Vansevenant, Marc Soler, Edoardo Affini, Wout van Aert, Kaden Groves, Corbin Strong