No gifts. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) continued his remarkable early-season sequence by making light work of the steep cobbled climb in Alcalá la Real to win stage 2 of the Vuelta a Andalucía.
Enric Mas (Movistar) looked to take the fight to the Slovenian in the last kilometre, but he was unable to match Pogačar’s decisive acceleration on the final ramps of the ascent, and he had to settle for second place, 4 seconds down, while Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) took third.
Pogačar was part of a nine-man group that fought out the finish in Alcalá la Real. The two-time Tour de France winner had previously attacked alone from the peloton with 28km to go and bridged across to the remnants of the break on the climb of Puerto de la Hoya de Charilla.
Mas, Buitrago and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) were among those to scramble across over the other side, but there was little they could do to deny Pogačar his third win in as many race days in 2023.
In the overall standings, Pogačar now holds a lead of 48 seconds over Buitrago, with Landa third at 52 seconds.
More to follow…
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