Vuelta a Castilla y León (s2)

Blues take two of their riders within the eleven at the front group of a stage stroke by weather, with Moreno, Castroviejo now in 4th and 5th place of the overall before the Queen ride on Sunday

In yet another dantesque day in terms of weather conditions, with rain, hail, snow and cold all over the 157 kilometers around Ávila on stage two in the Vuelta a Castilla y León, Movistar Team put again their colours on front of the bunch. Jonathan Castroviejo and Javi Moreno became the leaders from the telephone squad by making the 12-rider split that took almost ten minutes over the bunch and will contest the overall classification in Segovia on Sunday during stage three, with three Cat. 1 ascents.

After an opening phase under bad early-morning forecast with a seven-man attempt full of big riders –Landa, Kloden, Feillu, Pedraza, Oyola y Taaramäe- leading the race for almost 100k featuring a notable David Arroyo, the race got decided just before the last climb of the day, the Cat. 2 Alto de la Paramera, 30k from the finish. There, twelve riders, including Jonathan Castroviejo and Javi Moreno, went away and easily opened a gap with the peloton, with Báez (EPM), Gerdemann (RNT) and Luis León Sánchez (RAB) making the counter. The latter two reached the break as four others got dropped, the group of eleven eventually completing the descent before the cobbles in the Wall of Ávila. There, Sánchez showed his strength as Castroviejo (5th) and Moreno (7th) came 5 seconds back to jump into fourth and fifth place in the overall, tied with Gerdemann (49, 53 y 70 at the points account) at the expense of the Queen stage tomorrow, with the Cat. 1 climbs of Navafría, Morcuera and Navacerrada before the ending 50k of descent and a dual pass through the La Fuencisla cobbled climb in Segovia.