In the longest stage of the Spanish race, the Italian rider of Tinkoff crossed the finish line in the leading group. Team co-leaders, Rafal Majka and Roman Kreuziger, didn’t lose time in the GC, ahead of the weekend’s decisive stages.
The second stage, from Palomares del Rio to Cordoba (186.3 km) was marked by an early breakaway, similar to the previous day, with four riders gaining a maximum gap of about 4 minutes on the peloton. In the front group, several teams, including Tinkoff, kept the break under control.
Unfortunately, a fall, early into the stage, affected Nikolay Trusov, who suffered from road rash on his right leg. Nevertheless, the Russian rider was strong and powered up back to the peloton, working hard in the front to chase the break.
With 30 km to go, a compact group caught the escapees, before the complicated finale, with a third category climb, Alto de Trassiera, 22 km from the finish line. The climb, with a 5.8% average incline, was tackled by the peloton at a steady pace, although of course it did make a selection, with a group of several dozen riders who rode past the final summit.
Soon after that the riders had to face a series of twisting false flats and a fast descent to Cordoba which caused a further selection prior to the finishing sprint where unfortunately Daniele Bennati was squeezed out and therefore he was unable to sprint. The Italian rider now sits 8th in the GC and third in the Points Classification.
Bennati, Gatto
“Today we were a bit unlucky before the descent because Oscar Gatto had a puncture and was left behind. In addition, the descent was approached at a very fast pace and the group was split,” said Sport Director Bruno Cenghialta. “Kreuziger and Bennati got back in with 3.5 km to go and in the last kilometer we brought Daniele in the front positions of the group to try and do his sprint but unfortunately he was closed and couldn’t carry out. However, today it went quite well because we had good feedback from the guys. As I said before, in the end we were just a little bit unlucky because we were able to do the things the way we wanted to”.
According to Daniele Bennati, luck wasn’t on the team’s side in today’s stage. “Today we weren’t that lucky because there were four of us in the first group, and Oscar Gatto was probably a little bit better suited than me to try and get a result. Unfortunately, he punctured in the last descent, and so in the end it was just me, Rafal and Roman in the first group. I tried to do a good sprint but I was squeezed out in the final 500 meters, so I couldn’t really start sprinting. Anyway my condition, as well as Majka’s, Gatto’s and Kreuziger’s is good, and this is very promising for the next few days”.
Tomorrow, the third stage, 157.9 km long, will take the peloton from Monachil to Padul.
“Tomorrow, it will be another stage which, in theory, is meant to end with a final sprint, but a breakaway with six-seven riders could also get to the finish line. It will depend on weather conditions and on the wind. But a bunch sprint is very likely to happen,” concluded Bruno Cenghialta.
