Slovenian Matej Mohoric surprised everyone on the last descent and passed first at the finish line of stage 2 of the Vuelta a la Comunidad Valenciana. Santiago Buitrago was twelfth.
Slovenian rider Matej Mohoric (TBV) won the second stage of the Volta de la Comunitat Valenciana when he took off on the descent of the flat top of Corrals, the last of the three climbs of the day, and overtook the very small group that had formed during the ascent to the last climb of the day.
He had already tried unsuccessfully on the first day, but this time the Slovenian from the Bahrain-Victorious team did manage to take the victory with a time of 3 hours, 47 minutes and 47 seconds, although he could not snatch the lead from the Italian Alessandro Tonelli (VBF), winner of the first stage and who continues as leader with one minute and eight seconds over Mohoric.
This second day, with a mid-mountain profile, held many surprises for the riders, who rode in a continuous up and down during the almost four-hour stage. Already in the first kilometers a breakaway was formed, led by the Spanish riders and formed by Ixomin Juaristi (EUS), Gorka Sorarrain (CJR), Eugenio Sánchez (EKP), Sinuhé Fernandez (BBH), Johan Meens (BWB), Sébastien Van Poppel (BWB), José Maria García (IBA).
But the peloton, aware that this Wednesday had let the breakaway go and then was not able to hunt them down, did not let them go more than two minutes and controlled the situation at all times so that what happened on the first day would not happen.
In fact, it was the Italian team VF Group Bardiani-CSF Faizanè, that of leader Alessandro Tonelli, who pulled during the first stretch of the race to prevent that distance of just over two minutes from stretching and could cause some havoc in the back of the race, which hardly had any difficulty in reducing the gap as the kilometers went by.
With just over fifty kilometers to go, the LIDL-Trek began to pull away and reduced the gap to just thirty seconds, an advantage that dissipated at the foot of the last pass, the flat top of the Corrals, where the peloton regrouped the escapees.
The last climb was a big novelty, a very narrow road that forced the riders to ride in single file, something that the Spaniard Oier Lazkano (MOV) took advantage of to select the peloton and reduce the leading riders to about twenty riders.
The race was in that group and there were several who tried to break away from that small peloton and make the war on their own, although it seemed that the race was going to be decided by a sprint in the town of Simat de la Valldigna.
However, Slovenian Matej Mohoric, who already tried to break away from the peloton in the first stage on the last descent, but without much of a run, tried again. This time he did. His stylish descent led to a gap that none of those behind wanted to close because that meant losing strength that could be expensive in a hypothetical sprint.
And the Slovenian, an expert in these matters and winner of several stages in the grand tours, took advantage of the situation to go down with everything, grit his teeth and sign a great stage finish to get the victory of this second day of the Volta, in which his closest pursuer, the Italian Giovanni Lonardi (PTK), was thirteen seconds behind, like the rest of the group.
This second stage of the Volta, which celebrates its 75th edition this year, had a mid-mountain profile and rolled between the Valencian towns of Canals and Simat de la Valldigna, in a day that covered 164 kilometers with a difference in altitude of 3,998 meters.
Source: EFE y www.noticiascaracol.com