Colombia’s Esteban Chaves earned the first individual stage win of this year’s Vuelta a España to take the overall leader’s red jersey after the race’s second stage. The Orica GreenEdge rider outlasted Team Giant-Alpecin’s Tom Dumoulin and Team Sky’s Nicholas Roche on the final Category 3 climb to the finish line at Caminito del Rey.
Team Cannondale-Garmin’s Dan Martin finished fourth behind compatriot Roche, with several general classification contenders, including Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana, coming home in a group just over thirty seconds behind Chaves, who claimed his first ever Grand Tour stage victory. Vincenzo Nibali was forced to fight back after being involved in a major crash 30km from the finish line, but still lost a minute to his expected rivals for the title.
The 158.7km second stage, which began at Alhaurin de la Torre in Andalucía, marked the real start of the competition after the opening team time trial stage was neutralised due to safety concerns. An early breakaway of six riders was gradually whittled down until only Portugal’s José Gonçalves remained in a solo attempt for the stage win.
Gonçalves was caught by the peloton with just under 10km remaining on a day where multiple crashes split the peloton. A number of familiar names, including Peter Sagan and Fabian Cancellara, were also left behind by the late crash that affected Nibali, while Italy’s Matteo Pelucchi was forced to retire after an earlier incident.
Slovakia’s Peter Velits began the day wearing the overall leader’s red jersey after his BMC Racing team won the neutralised team time trial stage. Tomorrow, the riders will tackle a 158.4km stage to Mijas to Malaga, passing over the Category 1 Puerta del León climb.
