After the opening time trial on Saturday evening, stage 2 of the Vuelta a España brought the first road stage, which turned out to be a first opportunity for the sprinters.
Despite the largely flat parcours, it wasn’t always a foregone conclusion, as the wind blowing across the exposed plains south of Burgos meant the threat of echelons hovered in the breeze all day.
In the end, it didn’t turn out to be too much more than a breeze, and not the sort of wind that can blow a bike race to pieces. The peloton was on edge all day but no one was tempted to really take it on, and it remained bunched as the race made its way back to the city of Burgos, scene of the opening time trial.
After the last of the three breakaway riders had been swept up, there was an intermediate sprint ahead of the real deal at the finish.
Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) triumphed at the former but had to settle for second at the latter as Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) emerged victorious.
On a run-in that saw a big crash cost several GC riders precious time, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) finished safely in the pack to the red jersey as overall leader ahead of a key mountain stage on Monday.
Watch how it all unfolded in our highlights video above.
