Kaixo, lagunak!

Welcome, friends!

Stage two ran much as expected in terms of race situation, but it was not without it's drama. Right from the gun, breakaway artists Thomas de Gendt and Pierre Roland instigated a move on the first climb of the day, where Luis Ángel Maté took the largest amount of points for the KOM jersey. After this, the stage saw a long procession with the break controlled at 3 minutes until Movistar and Sky turned the screws in the finale. Apart from the former, the break includes Gougeard (AG2R), Torres (Burgos), Lastra (Caja Rural) and representing Euskadi-Murias, Hector Saez.

The seven began to fall apart after De Gendt dropped back from the group and the French duo of Gougeard and Roland charged forward. Saez tried to reconnect by powering with the remnants of the break in his wheel, but to no avail, and shortly after both his group and the French tandem were absorbed by a raging peloton. This makes Saez our "Basque of the Day" for representing the Ikurriña in the break. BMC had relinquished control of the peloton when both their leaders - Rohan Dennis and Richie Porte - dropped away, quickly losing minutes. More would be dropped in the race of attrition as yesterday's specialists Castroviejo and Oliveira made pace for their respective team leaders. Their effort was rewarded as Valverde closed down a late attack by Laurens de Plus. The final hundred metres saw Valverde (Movistar) and Michael Kwiatkowski (Sky) locked in a battle of strength ánd wits, as the Unbeatable forced the Polish talent to the front. Valverde remains unbeaten in the sprint á deux and took the stage victory, while Kwiatkowski will wear the red jersey tomorrow. Our Basque to watch for today - Eduard Prades, finished 41th in the first bus.

Best placed (stage): Ion Izagirre (15th)
Best placed (GC): Ion Izagirre (5th)
Eguneko Euskara: Hector Saez

🇪🇸 La escapada sigue a un ritmo fuerte...
🤔 ¿Llegarán a la meta? #LaVuelta18

🇬🇧 Breakaway with a powerful rhythm...
🤔 Will they arrive at the finish line? #LaVuelta18 pic.twitter.com/Y1EjjLYz02

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) 26 augustus 2018

First real mountain stage, first real sprint stage. Strange how these things go, isn't it? The day starts off with a first category climb. Twenty kilometres at 4.9% is nothing to scoff at, but after this climb, that's all there is: nothing. A bumpy but never threatening terrain takes the riders to a flat finish. With 18 kilometers from the foot of the final descent to the finish and with the sprinters' teams ultra motivated to grasp one of the few chances at a stage victory, it is rather unlikely for a solo rider to take this stage.


That doesn't mean however that the sprinters will have it easy: the layout of the course in the final five kilometres pose quite the challenge. The last corner is at around four kilometres, but after that the peloton will have to tackle four roundabouts, the last one within the final kilometre. These can easily derail a sprint train, offering some chances for more technically adept riders such as Sagan or Matteo Trentin against the clear favourite, Quickstep's Elia Viviani.

Euskara to watch: Jon Aberasturi

One of two Basque pro-continental teams in the race is Euskadi Murias, who have come to the race with options for all terrains. Their best sprinter however is Jon Aberasturi, who's also the only rider on the team who was part of the original Euskaltel-Euskadi world tour team back in 2012. Aberasturi has been spending a few seasons racing in the far east before joining the Murias formation and giving the team their first victory in the Vuelta a Aragon. He fell during a training ride on the day of the podium presentation, but on a good day he can put in quite a sprint: Aberasturi sprinted to podium placings in Yorkshire and Burgos too. The Yorkshire result is significant, as like today, it was a stage with a hilly start and a sprinter's finish, making Aberasturi the Basque to watch!

Zorte on!