Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana: Aleksandr Vlasov takes 4th at Alto de Pinos mountain finish

With six categorized climbs and the first of two mountain finishes of the race, stage two at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana was set to be a test for the climbers. The stage covered a distance of 178km and took the peloton from Novelda to Alto de Pinos in south-east Spain. A breakaway of five riders was up the road for most of the day and was brought with 6km from the finish line. On the 3km final climb the GC favorites formed up, but the decision was only made in the sprint. While G. Ciccone took the win, Aleksandr Vlasov crossed the finish line in 4th and moved up to 5th overall. 

Result

01. G. Ciccone 4:38:59

02. T. Geoghegan Hart +0:00

03. P. Bilbao +0:00

04. A. Vlasov +0:01

From the Finish Line

“I think it was a good day for me and the team. My team mates did a great job supporting me all day. There have been some attacks on the final climb but I just kept my rhythm and so we were able to close the gaps again. The finale was maybe a bit too punchy for me but to be honest I also didn’t have the freshest legs anymore.” Aleksandr Vlasov

“We expected a tough day and we definitely got a tough day! As the gap of the breakaway went up to almost 7 minutes, we decided to start pulling in the peloton. Anton Palzer did a great job and together with Bahrain-Victorious we were able to reduce the gap to 3min. Unfortunately Bob Jungels had a mechanical just before the final climb and we only had Lennard Kämna and Matteo Fabbro left to support Aleksandr Vlasov. Aleks performed very well in this punchy finale. We’re happy with the result and how we raced as a team today.” Enrico Gasparotto, Sports Director