Julian Alaphilippe wins the second stage of the Itzulia 2022, and Primoz Roglic retains his lead.
The second stage of the Itzulia took place today, covering 207.9 km between Leitza and Viana. The longest stage of this year’s race began with a breakaway at the start with the climb to Uitzi (Cat. 3). 4 riders formed the breakaway: Julen Amezqueta (133, CJR), Ander Okamika (171, BBH), Ibai Azurmendi (192, EUS) and Ibon Ruiz (206, EKP).
The four riders rode the breakaway for more than 190 kilometres and achieved a maximum gap of 5 minutes 34 seconds. The peloton was controlled by team Jumbo-Visma and supported by the Quick-Step Alpha Vynil Team. The day’s mountain passes were hard-fought, with the riders battling for as many points as possible to wear the mountain jersey tomorrow at the start in Laudio.
The last stretch of the race saw the peloton turn up the pace and give chase to the leaders. At the start of the Aguilar Gaina pass, the breakaway group had a lead of 1’32”. The peloton gave up a further 10″ during the climb, which featured some timid attacks that came to nothing.
The gap widened to 2 minutes during the descent. With 15 km to go, Ibon Ruiz (206, EKP) attacked on a climb where his breakaway companions hesitated to follow and managed to open up a 10″ lead over them. The peloton picked up the pace again, cutting back an incredible 1’40” over 5km and catching the stage leader with 500 m to go.
Julian Alaphilippe won the sprint finish. The world champion repeats his stage victory at the Itzulia once again this year.
The general classification maintains the gap between the favourites with Primoz Roglic leading Remco Evenepoel by 05″ seconds. The leaders of the different classifications are as follows:
- Individual: Primoz Roglic (1, TJV)
- Mountain: Ibon Ruiz (206, EKP)
- Points: Primoz Roglic (1, TJV)
- Youth: Remco Evenepoel (44, QST)
- Teams: (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team)
- Best Euskaldun: Ion Izagirre, (71, COF)
- Combativity (2nd stage): Ibon Ruiz (206, EKP)
