Key Takeaways: Vuelta a España Stage 2

Breaking down how a hilly sprint stage was won & how tomorrow's stage will play out

A stage win drought ended today during the stage from Cascais to Ourém through the hilly Portuguese countryside, but instead of Wout van Aert delivering a highly expected victory, it was Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Kaden Groves who surged from the chaotic peloton with an incredible turn of speed to come by a fading Van Aert and hold off a surging Corbin Strong to win Stage 2 of the Vuelta a España. Leveraging his strong performance in yesterday’s opening time trial, Van Aert took the overall race lead from UAE’s Brandon McNulty after his second place on the stage, which allowed him to pick up six valuable bonus seconds. Behind, the main GC contenders simply stayed out of trouble in the nervous finale and bided their time before Tuesday’s opening summit finish.

Stage Top Five:
1) Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0
2) Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) +0
3) Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) +0
4) Pau Miquel (Equipo Kern Pharma) +0
5) Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) +0

Current GC Top Five:
1) Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) +0
2) Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +3
3) Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) +5
4) Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) +9
5) Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) +11

Select GC Standings:
8) Primož Roglič +20
10) João Almeida +22
13) Mattias Skjelmose +25
26) Tao Geoghegan Hart +34
28) Daniel Martínez +36
29) Adam Yates +37
32) Enric Mas +42
35) Richard Carapaz +43
62) Sepp Kuss +56
90) Mikel Landa +1’08

Stage 2 Race Notebook