After the first battle experienced in the outcome of the first stage of the Volta between Belgian Remco Evenepoel and the Slovenian Primoz Roglicthe two big favorites for the final victory, and who fell on the side of three times winner of La Vuelta, this Tuesday the expectation is maximum to see which of the two will win this second attack, the first in the mountains. The first arrival at the top, at the station Valter, at 2,135 meters, with an ascent of 11.4 kilometers at an average slope of 7.5% and with ramps of up to 18%, it is a perfect setting for the drums of war to sound again in the peloton.
The stage, which is 165.4 kilometers, between Mataró and Vallter, with two scoring climbs before hatching in Vallter (Height of Can Bordoi, 3rd; and Coll de Courtbet, 1st) started very busy, with an initial break of eight riders, from which the strongest rider of the day, the member of Kern Pharma Kiko Galván. They came to have this brave almost five minutes of margin, placing simon carr as provisional race leader and demoted Roglic to fourth place. A mirage.
He Primoz team, Jumbo-VismaThe speed of the squad gradually increased, chasing the last survivor to escape, surely the british carr just over six kilometers from the finish line. Then began a new day, sprint, where the first hero will be Colombian Stephen Chaves. Sepp Kuss, Roglic’s colleague, jumped for him, but either he could not follow or was ordered not to tire himself too much. ‘Chavito’ is gaining meters and seconds on his notable pursuers, of whom a Michael Landa which delivered such a great sensation and the best runners in the race, except for Bernal, O’Connor or Carapaz which they dropped
The rate of harassment and demolition of Soudal team from Evenepoel first towards Chaves and then Roglic became a demon in the last three kilometers, where Landa also made his presence felt, until the gates of the last thousand meters Evenepoel came out like a rocket. They stick to their wheel ciccone and roglicalways calculating and strategist, while chaves he could already feel the breath of his rivals on his neck.
He Colombian from EFE Education He was hunted with 500 meters to go. Evenepoel was so strong in his legs that the cleats almost broke and it looked like Roglic would not be able to come back this time. Big mistake. Primoz, as he showed throughout the season, came back and won again if not for the last movement of ciccone five meters from the finish line.
In the end, Evenepoel paid for his disrespect, with Roglic increasing his margin in the general classification by two seconds with respect to Remco, who reached six seconds, like him. ciccone from Slovenian, including landa that he took a step forward and was fourth in 27 seconds.
With this victory, Ciccone avenged his team’s bad luck, Trek-Segafredowhich in two days lost two of its runners, Dario Cataldo and Kenny Ellisonde; waiting for what will happen this Wednesday in the second stage of the mountain with the traditional finish on La Molina.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
