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Two days after dominating on his season debut at the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) delivered a repeat performance at the opening stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía.
The Slovenian started the five-day stage race as the favourite for overall glory and wasted no time in laying down a marker to his GC rivals, attacking 12.5km from the finish on a twisting steep climb and riding alone to the finish in Santiago de la Espada.
After his UAE Team Emirates teammates had done the hard yards up the final climb, Pogačar jumped from the remains of the lead group just under five kilometres from the top of the first-category Alto de Despiernacaballos. He stormed up the road and quickly shook off hanger-on Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).
20 minutes later he crossed the finish line alone to record his second victory in two race days so far in 2023 and take the first leader’s yellow jersey of the race.
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