Vuelta a Aragón (st. 2)

Prades -3rd overall-, Sepúlveda -9th today, 5th in GC- still with a shot at race success after mountains see Arcas on the attack; Hivert (TDE) notches up the win, Ezquerra (BBH) now in the lead.

Jonathan Hivert (TDE) profited from a chaotic finish after loads of attacks to claim stage two of the 2019 Vuelta a Aragón, a mid-mountain 186km route in the Pyrenees from Sádaba to Canfranc Estación. A sprint of about twenty riders saw the Frenchman victories after yet another big effort from the Movistar Team, who still weren’t able to find the legs needed to contest the win at the end.

Local hero Jorge Arcas joined neighbour Fernando Barceló (EUS) into a beautiful late break, a move caught with about 12km remaining and seconded by solo attempts from Alejandro Marque (STA) or David Rodrigues (RPB). The work by Jaime Castrillo, Rafa Valls and Marc Soler to keep things under control for Edu Prades wasn’t enough for the Catalan to sprint freely into a very much disorganized field in the final ups-and-downs.

Hivert se lleva el triunfo en Canfranc #VueltaAragon2019 pic.twitter.com/zoSMXooP6o

— Vuelta Aragón (@Vuelta_Aragon) May 18, 2019

It was Eduardo Sepúlveda who led the Blues home with a 9th place in the stage, now fifth in a GC where Prades sits in 3rd, just 2″ off new race leader Jesús Ezquerra (BBH). The Vuelta a Aragón will end on Sunday with 127km on fast, wind-exposed roads from Huesca to Zaragoza, echelons likely to decide the fate of the race.

Cover picture (c): Photo Gomez Sport