Wout van Aert, second behind Kaden Groves, new leader of La Vuelta 2024

Second stage in La Vuelta a España 2024, still covering Portuguese territory, which ended with an atypical sprint in which Kaden Groves emerged victorious against Wout van Aert who continues to accumulate second places, although the latter was rewarded with the red leader's jersey in the general classification.

Second place with a prize for Wout van Aert in the second stage of La Vuelta

Wout van Aert's performance is becoming worthy of study. Another second place to add to yesterday's third place. One of the greatest cyclists of recent times, but on the way to shedding the nickname of "eternal second" to his archrival's grandfather: Raimond Poulidor.

The stage, which was supposed to be challenging, taking place on the hilly terrain between Cascais and Ourém, promised an interesting spectacle. However, as has happened too many times this season, today was a day of rest and the peloton was not in the mood to compete.

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An early breakaway was formed, as expected, made up of cyclists from teams invited to La Vuelta 2024. In this case, Luis Ángel Maté from Euskaltel Euskadi and Ibon Ruiz representing Kern Pharma. There was no reaction from the peloton, which rode at a practically tourist pace, accumulating a huge delay of 52 minutes by the end of the day. Intolerable when we are only in the second stage of La Vuelta 2024.

The only remarkable event of this embarrassment that we witnessed on television was a typical silly fall while reaching for a feed bag. In this case, one of the victims, Dylan van Baarle, a key rider for Visma-Lease a Bike, was seriously injured. From then on, we saw him at the back of the group, struggling on every climb despite the leisurely pace, eventually opting to abandon.

Meanwhile, the breakaway extended their adventure until the bonus sprint, at which point they stopped to be absorbed by the main group. Wout van Aert managed to get into the sprint, securing the remaining second place with a clear intention to take the yellow jersey.

The arrival in Ourém was characterized by a steep incline in the final kilometer. Edoardo Affini led the group with Wout van Aert on his wheel. However, the Belgian rider was too eager and, as he saw others trying to catch up, he launched the sprint from too far out. This move was perfectly exploited by Kaden Groves, perhaps the fastest man in La Vuelta 2024 where sprinters are scarce, to make a strong comeback and win the stage.

Nevertheless, Wout van Aert managed to hold onto second place, earning more bonus seconds which, combined with the time trial result, allowed him to wear the coveted red leader's jersey in the general classification of La Vuelta a España 2024.

Stage 2 Classification

1. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 5h12'55''
2. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) +00''
3. Corbin Strong (Israel-PremierTech) +00''
4. Pau Miquel (Kern Pharma) +00''
5. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny) +00''
6. Pavel Bittner (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) +00''
7. Jon Aberasturi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) +00''
8. Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +00''
9. Brandon Smith Rivera (INEOS Grenadiers) +00''
10. Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates) +00''

General Classification

1. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) 5h25'27''
2. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +3''
3. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) +5''
4. Sefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) +9''
5. Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) +11''
6. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +20''
7. Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +21''
8. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +22''
9. Nelson Oliveira (Movistar Team) +23''
10. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +24''