Valencia’19 Hits The Hills – Photo Gallery

Valencia Stage 2 Photo Gallery: After the easy ‘photo-shoot’ at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana stage 1 time trial, it was time for Al Hamilton to do a bit of ‘Race Chasing’ as Italian PEZ-man Ale Federico calls it. Stage 2 was set in the mountains behind Alicante, take it away Al.

The start and finish of stage 2 was in the City of Alicante, but seeing a race in the hills is always a better idea, so the plan was to catch two climbs; the second of the day called Canalis and the final ascent, the Alto de Carrasqueta.

There are a lot of castles in this area

It was a two hour drive to Canalis, just outside Onil. On the way there the countryside is a little dry, even in February, but there are quite a few castles in this part of Spain to break up the monotony.

An hour before the race was due and the fans were arriving

Plans don’t always work out and the race was running well behind the slowest schedule, so the final climb would have to be missed, but a good time was had and here are the photos:

You can’t help but get nervous when the Guardia Civil decide to park behind you

Second climb of the day – Canalis d’Onil

Diego Rubio Hernandez (Burgos-BH) was out to take the KOM jersey

The break split on the climb

Overall leader, Edvald Boasson Hagen, had one of his Dimension Data teammates on the front

Tony Martin was near the front

The Movistar team were staying close to the World champion

The rainbow stripes suit Alejandro Valverde – Will he be in yellow again on Sunday

Geraint Thomas was comfortable in the middle of the bunch – it’s a long time to the Tour de France

Luis Leòn Sanchez always looks keen – He went for the final climb but lost out in the finalé

‘Best Young Rider’ Harry Tanfield was hanging on – There was a long way to go

After a crazy drive across the valley and up the other side, I waited for the race in the village of Benifallim at the start of the final climb of the Alto de Carrasqueta. What was left of the break didn’t have much of an advantage on the peloton and the team car’s had just been pulled out of the gap.

The break had less than a minute on the bunch with 50K to go

The break was falling apart, but Diego Rubio Hernandez was hoping to take more KOM point on the final climb, he didn’t, Luis León Sanchez was first over Alto de Carrasqueta

The peloton could be seen across the valley

Mitchelton-Scott and Astana were doing the work in the peloton

Overall leader, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) took 6th on the stage and protected his lead

The World champion was still looking cool – 12th on the stage and 7th overall

The Sky team were looking after Geraint Thomas

Niki Terpstra finished with the peloton and got some good training in for the Classics

Sven Tuft had a reasonable ride in Wednesday’s time trial, but he was off the back on Thursday and lost over 12 minutes

The race had split and this group was unlikely to make it back to the peloton as the final climb hove into view

Harry Tanfield in the white young riders jersey was in a chase group and lost 16 minutes

The almond blossom has just started to come out in the sheltered valleys… Nice

You can see the Stage 1 Time trial photos HERE.

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana Stage 2 Result:
1. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott in 4:10:12
2. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis
3. Ben Swift (GB) Sky
4. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
5. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
6. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
7. Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie
8. Sondre Enger (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
9. Enrique Sanz Unzue (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country
10. Christopher Lawless (GB) Sky.

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana Overall After Stage 2:
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data in 4:23:07
2. Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana at 0:05
3. Tony Martin (Ger) Jumbo-Visma at 0:07
4. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida at 0:08
5. Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar at 0:11
6. Pello Bilbao Lopez de Armentia (Spa) Astana at 0:12
7. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 0:14
8. Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida at 0:18
9. Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates at 0:19
10. Diego Rosa (Ita) Sky at 0:20.