MADRID, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) won the second stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycle race on Sunday to also go into the overall leader's red jersey.
Vingegaard, who finished second in this year's Tour de France, showed he is the lead candidate to win this year's Vuelta after claiming a tense sprint to the line, finishing just centimeters ahead of Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ).
The second stage of this year's race, held in Italy, also featured the first uphill finish, a nine-kilometer climb to Limone Piemonte. Although the climb didn't pose any great terrors for the overall favorites, it provided an early chance to test their legs.
The stage was complicated by heavy rain in the closing kilometers, and Vingegaard was involved in a fall, which involved a large group of riders coming off a roundabout.
"I went down hard, but it seems I didn't hurt myself so much. I have a couple of bruises, but because it was wet, I slid and I don't have any road rash or anything," he explained.
After the early-stage breakaway had been reeled in, everything depended on the last four kilometers of the stage, and Visma-Lease a Bike showed its ambition with 2023 Vuelta champions Sepp Kuss setting the pace.
Marc Soler (UAE-Team Emirates) made a late burst for the line, but was chased down, and the stage was decided with a head-to-head between Vingegaard and Ciccone.
The Italian looked to have the stage in his grasp going around the last bend, but the Danish rider caught him in the last 10 meters.
"It's been a while since my last victory, so I'm really happy to win the stage and with how my team worked and also to go into the red jersey," Vingegaard commented in his post-stage interview. ■
