The opening road stage of the Vuelta a Espana brings the race from Malaga to Caminito del Rey, though the finish is not quite as severe as it was when the race came here on the corresponding stage in 2015. Esteban Chaves won the summit finish on that occasion (a triumph overshadowed by Vincenzo Nibali's expulsion from the race), but this time around, the finale seems more likely to produce an uphill sprint.
After leaving Marbella, the peloton immediately face into the category 2 Puerto de Ojen (6.5km at 5.2%). After 91km, they will ride through the finish for the first time as they climb onwards up the category 3 Alto de Guadalhorce (7.1km at 2.8%). The category 3 Alto de Ardales (5.8km at 3.7%) comes after 120km, before a second ascent of the Guadalhorce brings them to the finish line.
The riders are assembling for the start in Marbella, with the flag due to drop at 13.35 local time.
Rohan Dennis (BMC) will wear the red jersey on this opening road stage of the Vuelta following his emphatic victory in last night's 8km time trial in Malaga. The general classification picture is as follows:
1 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:09:39 2 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:00:06 3 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:07 4 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team 0:00:17 5 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:20 6 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:21 7 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Sky 8 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Sunweb 9 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:22 10 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 11 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 12 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 13 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:23 14 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 15 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 16 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:24 17 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 18 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky 19 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:25 20 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:27
The peloton is currently navigating the neutralised zone ahead of the start proper. The early stint of climbing should provide a springboard for a break to forge clear, and there should be no shortage of willing volunteers at this early juncture in the race.
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Stage 2 of the Vuelta is formally underway. There is an immediate injection of pace at the head of the peloton.
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Almost as soon as the Puerto de Ojen begins, a group of seven riders opens a small gap over the peloton. Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Pierre Rolland (EF-Drapac), Pablo Torres (Burgos-BH), Jonathan Lastras (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) and Hector Saez (Euskadi-Murias) have a lead of 30 seconds over the peloton, and it looks as though they will be granted a degree of early leeway.
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The BMC squad of Rohan Dennis are content to let this break establish itself, and men like Rolland, De Gendt and Mate don't need a second invitation. Their advantage is 1:30 and growing as they continue on the climb.
Gougeard is the best-placed rider of this move on GC. The Frenchman began the day 42 seconds down in 69th place overall.
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As they approach the summit of the Puerto de Ojen, our seven leaders have a margin of 2:25 over the peloton.
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Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) led the break over the top of the Puerto de Ojen. Over the other side, their buffer on the BMC-controlled peloton rises to 3:10.
De Gendt and Rolland were second and third over the summit, but the Marbella resident Mate was never likely to be denied on one of his training climbs. The so-called Lynx of Andalucia takes an early provisional lead in the race within a race for the king of the mountains jersey.
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The break's buffer is flitting either side of three minutes following the descent off the Puerto de Ojen. BMC continue to set the tempo in the peloton.
Rohan Dennis was the overwhelming favourite to win the Vuelta's opening stage and the Australian duly lived up to his billing to beat Michal Kwiatkowski by 6 seconds. While Dennis rode the Giro d'Italia with the GC in mind, ultimately placing 16th overall, he has no designs on defending his jersey for long here. "No offence to the Vuelta, but I'm not overly bothered about that. My goals are stage 1 and stage 16 and really to be a workhorse for my team-mates and try and help them achieve their goals," Dennis said. Alasdair Fotheringham has the full story here.
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Today's stage is officially billed as 'flat' though the constantly rolling roads, four classified climbs and uphill kick to the finish would all suggest otherwise. The break's lead rises slightly to 3:24.
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De Gendt, Rolland and Mate have considerable experience in day-long escapes, while Gougeard brings considerable strength to this move. The bunch won't want to give them too much freedom, and the gap remains stable at 3:15.
Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky) pushed Dennis closest last night and the terrain in the finale this afternoon might give the Pole an early chance to snatch the red jersey. Directeur sportif Gabriel Rasch was coy about whether Kwiatkowski would look to seize any such opportunity. Alasdair Fotheringham has more here.
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According to lavuelta.es, the seven escapees covered 38 kilometres in the opening hour of racing. Their lead over the peloton is 3 minutes.
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The escapees are through Alozaina and pedalling towards the day's intermediate sprint in Pizarra, which comes shortly before the race tackles the Alto de Guadalhorce for the first time.
Much like the Vuelta's other recent starts in Andalucia, temperatures are soaring this afternoon. It's currently 32 degrees Celsius on the finish line.
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BMC are still setting the tempo in the main bunch, with a delegation from Sky maintaining a watching brief just behind them.
The break's lead comes down slightly to 2:45. Pablo Torres had to drop back to his Burgos-BH team car momentarily, but the Spaniard is safely back with his fellow escapees.
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Into the final 100km for De Gendt, Rolland et al. They are continuing a smooth collaboration despite the rugged nature of the terrain beneath their wheels.
Martijn Tusveld and a couple of Sunweb teammates get tangled up on a gentle right-hand bend, but none of the riders have any injuries to report, and all three safely rejoin the main peloton.
Wilco Kelderman and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) were also caught up in that incident, but both men were immediately back in the peloton.
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A reminder of the situation as the break passes through Alora: Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Pierre Rolland (EF-Drapac), Pablo Torres (Burgos-BH), Jonathan Lastras (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) and Hector Saez (Euskadi-Murias) have a lead of 3 minutes over the peloton, where BMC are performing the pace-making duties.
Omar Fraile (Astana) was also caught up in that earlier crash, and the Spaniard required some attention from the medical car. He is now back in contact at the rear of the peloton.
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The peloton slowed as it passed through the feed zone, and that has allowed the break to expand their advantage to 4:10 as they approach the base of the day's second climb, the Alto del Guadalhorce.
These roads will feature again in the closing kilometres of the stage, and it's certainly useful for the riders to get a sighter of the twisting fare that will await them on the run-in. It may be an uphill finish, but positioning will be as important as raw strength on a finale like this.
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The break hits the base of the category 3 Alto de Guadalhorce, which drags up for 7.1km at 2.8%. 4:15 the gap to the bunch.
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Ilnur Zakarin is back with the race doctor after being involved in that earlier crash. There is no particular urgency in the main peloton for the time being as they negotiate the gentle slopes of the day's final climb for the first time.
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This climb is giving us a useful recon of the closing kilometres of the stage. The gradient is certainly not stiff, but the road is narrow and there are twists and turns aplenty.
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This climb is giving us a useful recon of the closing kilometres of the stage. The gradient is certainly not stiff, but the road is narrow and there are twists and turns aplenty.
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Luis Mate attacks near the summit of the Guadalhorce to claim the 3 points at the summit. De Gendt and Rolland follow him across the top in second and third. Mate is edging closer to an early stint in the polka dot jersey after claiming the day's opening climb.
The finish line comes 400 metres or so after the crest of the Alto de Guadalhorce - timing the final effort will be crucial. The breakaways are back together as they begin the descent of the climb.
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A puncture in the peloton for Richie Porte (BMC), who gets a swift wheel change and rejoins the race. With Peter Sagan in mind, Bora-Hansgrohe have joined the pace-making effort on the front of the bunch. 4 minutes the gap.
Luis Mate and Pierre Rolland lead the day's break on stage 2 of the Vuelta a Espana.
Rohan Dennis in red at the start of stage 2.
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The road climbs once again past the finish line, and the injection of pace from Bora-Hansgrohe has caused the break's lead to drop to 3 minutes. It also briefly provoked a split in the peloton, though it all appears to have knitted together once again.
World champion Peter Sagan has been sitting at the back of the peloton in recent kilometres, though he does not appear to be in any discomfort.
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BMC have taken the reins once again, but Marcus Burghardt's stint of pace-making for Bora has reset the tone of this stage. The break's lead has dropped to 2:30 and the bunch is strung out in a long line.
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Thomas De Gendt puts in a long turn on the front of the break. He and his companions are collaborating well, but the bunch has pinned back their advantage considerably over the past 15km or so.
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The break are 6 kilometres or so from the base of the day's third climb, the Alto de Ardales. De Gendt loses contact with his fellow escapees, and it seems that the Belgian is minded to relent and drop back to the peloton.
De Gendt takes a bottle from his team car and watches the break disappear from view. The Belgian will hold his fire for other days to come, and he will be a loss to the break as it tries to upset the odds and hold off the peloton. 2:45 the gap.
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The break has 2:37 in hand on the BMC and Bora-led peloton, while De Gendt is alone at 1:14, waiting to be swept back up by the bunch.
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De Gendt has been caught by the main peloton, which is 2:10 down on the leading sextet of Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Pierre Rolland (EF-Drapac), Pablo Torres (Burgos-BH), Jonathan Lastras (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) and Hector Saez (Euskadi-Murias).
The escapees are near the top of the category 3 Alto de Ardales (5.8km at 3.7%), where Mate will undoubtedly look to extend his virtual lead in the king of the mountains standings. Cofidis have a decent record in this competition over the past decade - David Moncoutie won the title four years in a row, from 2008 through 2011, while Nicolas Edet was kind of the mountains in 2013.
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Luis Angel Mate was first to the top of the Ardales as he continues his campaign to wear the king of the mountains jersey. The gap to the bunch is down to 1:40.
The Tour de l'Avenir concluded earlier today, with Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) claiming the overall title. Gino Mader (Switzerland) pipped Eddie Dunbar (Ireland) to victory on the final stage in Saint-Colomban-des-Villards. Full results are available here.
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Rolland and the escapees know they are fighting a losing battle, but they continue to present a united front. The gap is 1:37, with BMC piling on the pressure at the head of the bunch.
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Bora-Hansgrohe and others won't want to catch the break too soon, mind, less the process start all over again. For the time being, they will be happy to keep the six leaders more or less where they are.
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A pivotal moment for the break. Alexis Gougeard attacks and only Pierre Rolland can follow. It looks as though the French pair will push on without their companions.
Saez leads the pursuit of Rolland and Gougeard, who have put daylight into the rest of the break.
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These rolling, exposed roads are designed for strongmen. Rolland and Gougeard are 20 seconds clear of Mate, Saez, Torres and Lastra. The bunch is at 1:10.
There is a sudden infusion of urgency at the head of the peloton as Team Sky take up the reins and set about closing down the break.
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Movistar are also present in numbers near the front. The scramble for positions ahead of this potentially fraught finale is beginning in earnest.
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And then there were two. Saez, Mate, Lastra and Torres are brought back by the bunch. Gougeard and Rolland have 49 seconds in hand.
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Rolland and Gougeard are still making wholehearted efforts off the front, but their gap has tumbled to 36 seconds as Movistar dictate the terms in the bunch.
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Gougeard and Rolland are swapping turns smoothly and they have augmented their buffer slightly. It now stands at 52 seconds as Movistar lead the chase for Valverde.
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The road rises and dips continuously in the finale, and Rolland threatens to pull away from Gougeard on one of these inclines.
Gougeard is dropped and Rolland is alone at the head of the race, with a lead of 36 seconds over the peloton, where Sky and Movistar are policing matters.
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Rolland's lead dwindles to 15 seconds as he enters the final 20km, his adventure is almost at an end.
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Rolland has been caught and the bunch is all together again with a little under 20km to go. Team Sky set a searing pace at the front.
Peter Sagan appears to be betraying signs of suffering at the rear of the peloton, and it looks as though he is part of a group that is losing contact.
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Sky's pace-making is stringing out the bunch, which will be reduced in number even before that final category 3 kick towards the finish.
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Rohan Dennis is among the riders to have been distanced on this rugged and fast run-in. The red jersey is in a group that is reportedly 1:27 down on the Sky-led peloton.
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As things stand, with Dennis now almost two minutes down, Michal Kwiatkowski is in line to take over the red jersey, but there are bonus seconds and rugged terrain still to come and nothing is certain.
Richie Porte (BMC) is also back in that red jersey group, and the Australian's hopes of overall victory look to be ending on this opening road stage. The gap is already 2:52.
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Team Sky are joined by Astana at the front of the bunch on the run-in to the base of the Alto de Guadalhorce (7.1km at 2.8%).
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Jonathan Castroviejo sets the pace for Team Sky at the head of the bunch. A delegation from Movistar moves up alongside them in support of Quintana and Valverde.
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Sky continue to set a vicious tempo at the head of the reduced peloton. Dennis, Porte and Peter Sagan are now 4:20 down.
Away from the Vuelta, Matej Mohoric has sealed overall victory in the Deutschland Tour, and Oliver Naesen has won the Bretagne Classic.
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Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) has been jettisoned from the main peloton as Sky continue their relentless pace-setting.
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Nibali is 25 seconds down and will not make it back on before the finish this afternoon. Ahead of him, more and more riders are being dumped out the back of the front group on the lower slopes of this final climb.
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Castroviejo swings over and Andrey Amador (Movistar) takes over. There are just under 5km of climbing remaining.
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It will be very difficult for anybody to try to attack at this current rate of knots, though the gradient might be stiff enough inside the final 3km for somebody to test the waters. For now, Movistar and Sky set a fierce pace in a front group reduced to 40 or so riders.
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Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) is deposited out the back of the front group as Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) lays down a brisk tempo.
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Into the final 3km and there is a severely reduced front group in contention for the win as Salvatore Puccio sets the pace for Sky.
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Kwiatkowski sits in third wheel. Quintana and Valverde are both well-positioned for Movistar, while Steven Kruijswijk is up there for LottoNL-Jumbo.
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Tao Geoghegan Hart was in front for Sky, but Kruijswijk takes over. Dan Martin (UAE-Team Emirates) is well placed.
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Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step) attacks ahead of the final kilometre and opens a small gap.
De Plus presses on into the 500 metres as there is hesitation behind...
Valverde accelerates in pursuit of De Plus with Kwiatkowski on his wheel...
Kwiatkowski leads out the sprint, but he can't shake Valverde...
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) wins stage 2 of the Vuelta a Espana.
Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) took second and he will move into the red jersey of overall leader.
Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step) held on for third place on the stage, 3 seconds down.
Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) was 4th ahead of George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo). Nairo Quintana and Thibaut Pinot were both in the top 10, also 3 seconds down on Valverde.
Result:
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 4:13:01 2 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 3 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:03 4 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 5 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo 6 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 7 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 10 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
Simon Yates, Fabio Aru, Rafal Majka, Steven Kruijswijk and Michael Woods were among the riders to come in 8 seconds down on Valverde. Ilnur Zakarin lost 1:01 and Dan Martin conceded 1:15. Adam Yates, Richie Porte and red jersey Rohan Dennis all look set to lose more than 6 minutes.
General classification:
1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 4:22:40 2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:14 3 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:25 4 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:28 5 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:30 6 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:30 7 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:32 8 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:33 9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:33 10 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:35
Vincenzo Nibali lost 4:04, while Porte, Dennis and Adam Yates all came in 13:31 down on Valverde.
Result:
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 4:13:01 2 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 3 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:03 4 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 5 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo 6 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 7 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 10 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
General classification:
1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 4:22:40 2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:14 3 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:25 4 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:28 5 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:30 6 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:30 7 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:32 8 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:33 9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:33 10 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:35
Thanks for joining our live coverage of today's stage from the Vuelta a Espana. A full report, results and pictures are available here. We'll be back with more from stage 3 tomorrow.
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