Stage 2 of the Vuelta a España took the race into the Italian Alps, finishing with an uphill drag to Limone Piemonte. After a nervous day on wet roads, crashes, and a late catch of the breakaway, Jonas Vingegaard proved fastest in a reduced sprint from the climbers, narrowly outkicking Giulio Ciccone to seize both the stage and the red jersey.
The stage began in Alba with attacks flying immediately. Gal Glivar, Jakub Otruba and Liam Slock were joined by Nico Denz to form the early move. Sinuhé Fernández bridged across shortly after, creating a four-man group of Grand Tour debutants. The peloton, led by Q36.5 with support from Alpecin-Deceuninck, were content to let them hover between one and two minutes up the road.
At the intermediate sprint in Busca, Slock showed his speed to take maximum points, with Vernon mopping up what remained from the peloton. Denz later slipped back, leaving Glivar, Otruba, Slock and Fernández to press on. The group worked well on the flat roads towards Cuneo but began to attack one another once the catch loomed. Slock went solo with 8.5 km left, taking the combativity prize, but the final climb was always going to belong to the favourites.
Photo Credit: Unipublic / Cxcling / Antonio BaixauliCrashes and chaos in the peloton
The day was complicated by multiple incidents. George Bennett hit the ground, followed soon after by a larger crash through a roundabout involving Q36.5 and Visma-Lease a Bike. Both Tom Pidcock and Jonas Vingegaard went down but quickly remounted, with the Dane carrying a bloodied elbow. Axel Zingle also crashed hard and appeared out of the race, only to remount after treatment. The disruption allowed the break to briefly extend its gap, but as the roads dried nearer the finish, order was restored.
With 15 km to go the peloton reorganised. Ineos Grenadiers, EF Education-EasyPost, Bahrain Victorious and UAE Team Emirates-XRG joined Visma at the front, the gap to the leaders dropping under a minute. By the time the climb to Limone Piemonte began, only Slock remained up the road. He was swept up inside the final 5 km as Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike fought for position.
Photo Credit: Unipublic / Cxcling / Antonio BaixauliLidl-Trek force the pace, Vingegaard delivers
Julien Bernard was the first to take it up for Lidl-Trek with Giulio Ciccone and Andrea Bagioli in his wheel. Wilco Kelderman then drove hard for Vingegaard, stringing out what was left of the bunch, fewer than 50 riders. UAE launched moves through Marc Soler and later Juan Ayuso, but Visma responded with Sepp Kuss and kept Vingegaard perfectly placed.
Under the flamme rouge, it was still tightly bunched. Bagioli set the pace for Ciccone, with Vingegaard calmly marking his rival. Pellizzari briefly accelerated for Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe, but it was clear the stage would come down to a final kick. Ciccone opened his sprint with the line in sight, but Vingegaard jumped past in the last metres to snatch victory on the uphill drag.
Behind, Ciccone had to settle for second, while Marc Soler and Tom Pidcock were among those just behind in the reduced group. Jasper Philipsen, as expected, was dropped early on the climb and surrendered the red jersey.
With the victory, Vingegaard moves into the overall lead, with Ciccone and Ayuso close behind. Stage 3 offers another chance for the GC riders to test each other on Italian soil before the race returns to France later in the week.
2025 Vuelta a Espana Stage 2 result
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