With many hard days on the bike just around the corner in the Vuelta al País Vasco, the teams of the sprinters were left to do the work for the second day in a row. Stage 2 was another mass sprint to the finish line, this time with Fabio Felline (Trek Factory Racing) able to take the win ahead of race leader Michael Matthews from Orica-GreenEdge. Dani Moreno was the best Katusha’s rider with 11th position. At 175,4 km the winning time was 4:32.32 on the stage from Bilbao to Vitoria-Gasteiz

"For us this was a stage just to get through. The main goal was to keep our leaders Joaquim and Simon safe. On the final climb we went in front to get a good position for the downhill.  Everything went ok for us and the day was without stress. It was a quiet day for the team while the guys did a good job for the leaders," said team director José Azevedo. 

The sprint took place on the wide city streets of Vitoria-Gasteiz and unlike yesterday’s crash-filled ending, today’s stage occurred without problems. Joining Felline and Matthews for the stage podium was Tony Gallopin of Lotto Soudal. Michael Matthews retained the leader’s jersery on the same time as Michael Kwiatkowski (Etixx – Quick Step) and Felline. 

An original group of five riders went away early in the race but as the climbs ticked over, their efforts fell apart, leaving three in the front holding a handful of seconds until just before the final climb. With the group all together at the start of the climb, the main field split apart on the ascent, but once the downhill came into play riders were able to catch back on and the peloton arrived for a mass sprint.

The stages to come are full of challenging climbs, with Thursday’s stage the hardest to come.   Wednesday’s stage features 8-rated climbs, with the last climb coming close to the finish line.  At 170,7 km, stage 3 begins in Vitoria-Gasteiz and ends in Zumarraga.