The first weekend of the race concluded with the fast men in the spotlight.
Taking place between Cascais and Ourem, stage two was the longest of the three scheduled on Portuguese soil, and had bunch sprint written all over it. With this in mind, there weren’t many riders interested in forming a breakaway, only two men attacking after the start and going up the road, where they remained until the final 50 kilometers.
On the roads leading to the only classified climb, Mauri Vansevenant put in a probing attack but the bunch quickly reacted and kept things together. Two crashes, one on Alto de Batalha and another one in the last two kilometers, took some riders out of contention, leaving only a small group to fight for the stage, which was won by Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Fortunately, our riders avoided the many crashes that took place in the final 20 kilometers and came home safely. The first T-Rex Quick-Step rider to finish the stage was Mikel Lands, the team’s general classification contenders for the final Grand Tour of the year, who on Tuesday will have a chance to make up ground in the general classification, as the peloton will tackle the first of the race’s ten uphill finishes.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
