Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) dominated a very intense finale in Ourém to win stage 2 of La Vuelta 24, on Sunday. The Australian sprinter edged on the line Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), who claims La Roja, the red leader’s jersey, through the bonus seconds awarded at the finish. Groves is now up to 5 stage wins in La Vuelta, after he took 1 in 2022 and 3 and 2023. Participating for the first time, Van Aert takes his 5th Grand Tour leader jersey after he wore the Maillot Jaune for four days in the Tour de France 2022.
On the day after Brandon McNulty’s stunning ITT victory, the peloton head north with a rolling 194-km stage 2 from Cascais to Ourém. Will the sprinters survive the lumps of the day and the winds blowing from the north?
Maté chases the polka dots
Two early attackers immediately turn up the ante: Ibon Ruiz (Kern Pharma) and Luis Angel Maté (Euskaltel-Euskadi). They quickly encounter the first categorised ascent of La Vuelta 24, the cat-4 Alto do Lagoa Azul (km 8.9). Maté goes first at the summit, in a bid to reunite with the polka-dot jersey he held from stage 2 to stage 17 in La Vuelta 18.
Ruiz and Maté’s lead reaches a maximum of 4’55’’ at km 24. Then, Kaden Groves’ Alpecin-Deceuninck and Wout van Aert’s Visma-Lease a Bike show their ambition to control the race and bring the gap down.
Almeida’s land
La Vuelta 24 visits Torres Vedras (km 67), Joaquim Agostinho’s hometown, ahead of a very warm welcome in Caldas da Rainha (km 111), where Joao Almeida and Antonio Morgado’s hail from.
The peloton accelerate inside the last 60km. Maté goes first at the intermediate sprint (Alcobaça, 53.8km to go) ahead of Ruiz. With a place of 3rd, Groves prevents Van Aert and Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) from taking bonus seconds.
The attackers are then reeled in with 52km to go. Meanwhile, Dylan van Baarle (Visma-Lease a Bike) withdraws after a crash.
A super intense finale
Mauri Vansevenant (T-Rex Quick-Step) launches a new assault with 31km to go, just ahead of the cat-4 ascent of the Alto da Batalha (summit with 19.1km to go) but Visma-Lease a Bike are quick to react. On the ascent, Vacek hits the deck but he leads an impressive chase to return to the bunch with 15km to go.
In the meantime, Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) claims 2 KOM points at the summit. He matches Maté’s tally and thus takes the lead of the KOM standings, thanks to his better position in the overall standings.
The peloton fly towards Ourém as the sprint teams gear for a bunch gallop. Kaden Groves confirms his dominance in the field, after he won 3 stages last year in La Vuelta 23. Van Aert claims 2nd just ahead of Corbin Strong (Israel Premier Tech) and, with 6 bonus seconds, he takes the lead of the overall standings from Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates).
