If anybody had tuned into the TV coverage of stage 2 of the 2026 Vuelta a Murcia after the race had ended, they might well have thought it was business as usual.
After all, there was Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), the race leader, receiving his yellow jersey as outright winner on the final winner’s podium, followed by the respective champions of all the different classifications as well as the top three overall – Soler, his teammate Julius Johansen and Pinarello-Q36.5‘s Tom Pidcock all posing for the usual photos.
Except, in fact, the usual winners’ ceremony in the small town of Santomera was the conclusion of one of what developed into arguably the most memorable odd early-season stage races of recent years.
After their leisurely quarter-of-an-hour saunter round the backroads of the town in blustery, but fortunately dry conditions, the peloton – mostly smiling by this point, although those caught up by the wind must still have been feeling a shade jittery – reached the finish line in dribs and drabs, and then headed for the buses again.
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