Colombia-Coldeportes’ Miguel Angel Rubiano seems to have really benefitted of some weeks of training in Colombia, next to his family: after looking sharp early on in yesterday’s stage 1, Rubiano finished third in Vuelta a Castilla y Leon stage 2, Guarda-Fuentes de Onoro (208 km) on Saturday April 18th, significantly affected by the bad weather. RussianSergei Shilov (Lokosphinx) took a restricted sprint finish ahead of new GC leader Carlos Barbero (Caja Rural) and Rubiano himself, now overall third with 6 seconds to recover on Barbero.

Rain and snow hit hard on the peloton in the first half of the race – the hardest one: with two man on the break, Gari Bravo (Murias Taldea) and Diego Rubio (Efapel) , the race was neutralized due to heavy snowing at km 84, when the peloton was rising up to the Alto de la Torre: the riders were taken on team cars until 100 km to go, where the race restarted.

The rain stopped falling in the final part of the race, after the last escapee, Diego Rubio, had surrendered with 25 km to go to the peloton pulled by Caja Rural, but another twist of fate would be caused by the wind. In fact, at about 10 km to go, crosswinds split the main field into two, leaving only 20 riders in the lead, including Colombia-Coldeportes’ Miguel Angel Rubiano.

“Valencia helped me a lot to ride in good position late in the race, and when the echelons formed I was quick to accelerate and make the cut,” Rubiano told afterwards. “We had been reviewing the finish carefully on the map, and we knew there was a tricky turn with 500 mt to go, so I chose to kick out early and take it in the lead: two opponents came back in the final metres, but I feel like it was my best shot.

“Some weeks training in altitude certainly helped me, but the biggest part was staying with my family and my daughters, that really gave me a huge energy boost. Something I hope to make good use of tomorrow as well.”

On Sunday April 19th, the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon will be decided by the final uphill finish, at the end of the 179 km stage from Zamora to Alto de Lubian: a tough 6-km ascent, particularly in the first part, where the Escarabajos hope to shine with Rubiano himself and Rodolfo Torres, who was caught in the echelon and finished 57 seconds behind today, but will be motivated to bounce back on his favorite terrain.