The locality of Long live the Cid, The village where it is believed that the historical figure of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was born, gave the starting signal for a second stage of the Vuelta a Burgos which could have ended in tragedy. As the massive sprint approaches in the town of Villadiego, a massive fall left the whole peloton, with riders who even found themselves off the road after hitting the fences. A breathtaking image from which, by simple positioning, the three Jumbo-Visma pilots who were then leading the peloton took advantage: Timo Roosen (1º), Edoardo Affini (2º) and Chris Harper (3rd). Third hat-trick for the Dutch side so far this season, after the two recitals at Paris-Nice. For its part, Santiago Buitrago remains in the lead since the riders concerned lost no time because it was an incident in the last 3 kilometers.
The riders took advantage of the first part of the stage, on favorable ground, to reach an average speed of more than 42 km/h during the first hour of the race. Like the first day, Xabiel Mikel Azpar (Basque language), Jesus Ezquerra (Burgos BH) and Diego Pablo Sevilla (Eolo-Kometa) repeated their presence in the breakaway and enjoyed an advantage of around 8 minutes over a careless peloton. When Alto de la Lora arrived, the first port of the day, Azparren left behind his fellow adventurers, a few Ezquerra and Sevilla who were neutralized by the peloton in the middle of the stage. Euskaltel was still represented at the front of the race, but with little chance of success against a large hungry group working for the benefit of its sprinters.
As expected, the Azparren was neutralized just over 40 km from the finish, which left the outcome of the stage in the hands of the sprinters. Teams like UAE, Ineos and Quick-Step exercised their control in the lead and during a stretch of narrow roads on the way to Villadiego there was the possibility of causing damage with some fans which ultimately did not happen. But there was a little hitch…
scare and hat trick
A demanding slope 8 km from the end offered the greatest spectacle ever seen in the race so far. He did not hesitate to attack Tao Geoghegan, which provoked the immediate reaction of the leader Santiago Buitrago. Stifling the British attempt and enjoying a small break, it is Vincenzo Nibali (with Mikel Landa already off the hook at that time) who tried to surprise by the turn, but even going down could not open a gap. The sprint fight was the most likely endgame scenario, but the surprise jumped unpleasantly. Already in the last kilometer, a speed bump triggered the disaster: Fall of Dekker, cyclist, Jumbo and Montonera which left the whole peloton out of play of the fight for the sprint. Only Roosen, Affini and Harper survived to give the Dutch side another hat-trick this season. Add and continue…
Results and generalities of the second stage
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