Vuelta a Burgos: Molano wins stage 2

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Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) won stage 2 of Vuelta a Burgos in a bunch sprint in Briviesca.

The Colombian edged Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) at the line, while his UAE Team Emirates teammate Matteo Trentin was third.

There was also a change at the top of the general classification, as Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar) finished far enough ahead of Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Fenix) in the bunch sprint finish to overtake him for the purple leader's jersey. 

The sprint came only moments after the peloton had brought back a trio of Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Mads Würtz Schmidt (Israel-Start-Up Nation) and Marcus Burghardt (Bora-Hansgrohe), who had broken clear inside the last 10 kilometres, and were only caught a few hundred meters from the finish line. 

Burghardt briefly looked as though he might win the stage when he launched a powerful attack about 500 meters from the finish to drop both Geniets and Schmidt, but DSM’s lead-out train managed to get into his slipstream in time to deliver Dainese for his sprint.

It was UAE Team Emirates who had the last laugh though, as Trentin helped deliver Molano to victory, in what was perhaps the reverse order of what we’d expect from their lineup. 

An otherwise straightforward stage came to life in the finale, as the peloton struggled to control the race upon bringing back the day's five-man break.

Geniets, Schmidt and Burghardt made their move 8km from the finish, amid a flurry of activity as the peloton which also briefly saw GC contender Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) get a small gap ahead of the peloton when attempting to pursue the trio. 

His and other counter-attacks were all caught, but the trio seriously threatened the sprinters’ chances. With 2km to go they held a lead of 13 seconds, and an organised chase from teams like Arkea-Samsic, AG2R Citroën, Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team and Team DSM all working together was required to bring them back.

How it unfolded

Compared with yesterday’s hectic action in the crosswinds, today’s 175km stage from Tardajos to Briviesca was a serene affair, played out in warm, calm conditions.

An all-Spanish group of five broke clear at the start of the stage, featuring Carlos Canal (Burgos-BH), Raul Garcia Pierna (Equipo Kern Pharma), Sergio Garcia (Eolo-Kometa), Unai Cuadrado (Euskaltel-Euskadi), and Oier Lazkano (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).

Lazkano was the highest of the five riders on GC at 1:29 behind leader Planckaert, and so quickly became virtual leader of the race.

His virtual lead grew to a sizable amount when the break was allowed an advantage of nearly seven minutes, but from around kilometre 30 it began to gradually decline.

UAE Team Emirates did much of the pace setting in the peloton, believing that one of their sprinting duo of Trentin and Molano would be a favourite in the event of a sprint finish.

UAE Team Emirates continued to do the bulk of the work, and as a result of their efforts the gap came down to within two minutes with just less than 40km left to ride.

Approaching the 20km-to-go point, the gap had plunged to beneath a minute, with EF Education-Nippo having taken over control of the peloton. The catch was made on an uncategorised climb 18.4km from the finish, after which EF Education-Nippo continued to set a fierce pace.

They increased the pace even more on a flat, exposed section in an apparent attempt to split the peloton, and they succeeded in distancing a small group of riders out of the back of the peloton 14km from the finish. But none of the GC riders appeared to be caught out, and they ceased their efforts upon a change of direction.

Bora-Hansgrohe subsequently took over at the front of the peloton, but the pace was slow enough to make for an uncontrolled finale to the stage. 

Angel Madrazo (Burgos-BH) was the first to attack 8.5km from the finish, and when that was shut down Geniets, Burghardt and Schmidt immediately counter-attacked in their nearly-triumphant move.