UAE Team Emirates-XRG seized control of the Vuelta a Andalucía on stage 2 through Pavel Sivakov. The Frenchman finished third place on the uphill finish in Torredelcampo, and in doing so, moved into the yellow leader’s jersey.
With eighth place on the day reserved for Sivakov’s teammate, Tim Wellens, UAE Team Emirates-XRG enjoyed another successful afternoon. The Belgian raced in the green sprinter’s jersey and combined with Marc Soler in the finale. The pair now sit fifth and sixth on general classification, respectively.
It was Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s Maxim Van Gils who was knocked off the top of the GC standings, with the stage 1 winner unable to follow the attack of Sivakov on the final categorised climb of the day.
Starting the day with a small deficit to the yellow jersey, UAE Team Emirates-XRG took control of proceedings on the Alto de Los Villares. With over 55km still to ride, Sivakov decided to take his leave from the peloton and move towards the front of the race.
Sivakov’s teammate Igor Arrieta had spent most of the stage in the breakaway of the day, and on the Alto de Los Villares, which served as the final categorised climb, the Spaniard showed himself as the strongest of those out front. With Arrieta continuing his own pace on the climb, Sivakov stamped on the pedals to put Van Gils into difficulty.
Once he had broken free of the peloton’s shackles, Sivakov was tracked by Brandon Rivera (Ineos Grenadiers) and Clément Berthet (Decathon AG2R La Mondiale), both of whom would prove the Frenchman’s companions for the rest of the stage. Their acceleration would continue as the summit of the climb approached and the favourites group behind dwindled in number, with Van Gils desperate to make up ground.
Noting Sivakov’s deficit of just seven seconds in the GC, the young Belgian dug deep but was passed by Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Enric Mas (Movistar) and Johannes Staune-Mittet (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) as they came over the summit, some 11 seconds down on Sivakov’s leading trio.
It was on the descent that Van Gils’ hopes of holding onto the race lead were extinguished, as Pidcock and Mas bridged across to the leading trio. As the front group swelled to five, the race situation stabilised for the final 40km of racing. It was only an uphill kick to the line that would decide the race winner.
Aiming to put his good legs to use, Sivakov was the first to attack the stage victory, but his move was closed and over the line, the Frenchman was strong enough for third behind stage winner Pidcock. Given the deficit to Van Gils behind, Sivakov’s aggression was rewarded with the leader’s jersey, which he now controls with a 23-second advantage over Berthet.
Sivakov: “It was super good. Already yesterday I was quite surprised with my legs. I tried to go a bit too far maybe, with 60km to go I was solo for a while and still managed to finish almost with the first guys. Today we did a super good job with the team.
“At the end, I maybe went a bit early. It was a long last 200m on the flat but I have the leader’s jersey and now I think we have a really good team to try and defend it.
“We have to be careful, we need to race to the finish on Sunday and not relax beforehand. It is going to be tough but the hardest stages are done. We have to be careful every day.
“It is a good opportunity for me. We have a really strong team and always, when you have an opportunity like this, it is good to take it. Now it is up to me to finish the job and I will do my best.”
Vuelta a Andalucía stage 2 results
- Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) 3:22:04
- Brandon Rivera (Ineos Grenadiers) s.t
- Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t
- Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +30″
- Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1’10”
Vuelta a Andalucía general classification after stage 2
- Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 7:41:34
- Clément Berthet (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +23″
- Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +32″
- Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1’03”
- Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1’38”
