Mikel Landa (Team Sky) won the 2nd stage of the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco, edging ahead of Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo) as the race finished up the category 2 Amurrio-Baranbio climb. Sergio Henao (Team Sky) completed the stage podium for 3rd place.
It was a cold and wet day for the better part of today’s 174km stage. It was a rolling course that greeted the riders from the start in Markina-Xemein but the final 2.8km of the stage was where the most severe gradients of the day awaited the riders. 4 riders went clear after 30km, but soon after it was just Stefan Denifl (IAM Cycling) and Angel Madrazo (Caja-Rural) that remained in the lead.
As the duo rode ahead to a 5-minute advantage, Katusha, Tinkoff and Orica-Greenedge all took an interest in controlling the pace. Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka kept its cards close to its chest today as the rain came down. Everyone knew the showdown for the day would happen on the final climb and so it was about delivering Serge Pauwels and Igor Anton to the final climb for our African Team.
With 10km to go the break was caught and it was a flat out race for the foot of the climb. Johann van Zyl did a great job to support Anton in the closing kilometers while Pauwels craftily maintained a good position too. With ramps of over 20%, the race exploded as soon as the climb began. After a few accelerations it was Landa and Kelderman who got a 10 second gap. Pauwels came to the front of the chase from 2km to go but the severity of the climb meant that a handful of seconds was enough for the leading two.
Pauwels would be our highest placed finisher of the day. Our Belgian came home in 23rd position and 31 seconds down on the stage winner Landa, who also took over the overall race lead.
Serge Pauwels – Rider
Alex Sans Vega – Sport Director
