Stage 2

The road

At the start

Astana own the whole classification

Janez Brajkovič leads the Vuelta with five Astana teammates on the same time behind him, Nibali among them; Cancellara and Zubeldia are the best of the rest at ten seconds, Valverde is twenty-nine down and Rodríguez fifty-eight. Today the race climbs on its second day: a hundred and seventy-seven kilometres to the summit of the Alto do Monte da Groba.

How it was won

1. 1115 km to go

   Thirteen minutes for three men

   Rasmussen, Henderson and Aramendia go inside the first kilometre and Astana let them. By the top of the Alto de San Cosme, the only climb of the first half, the gap is close to thirteen minutes.

2. 260 km to go

   Lampre take it seriously

   Astana's chase has been half-hearted and necessary rather than committed. With sixty kilometres left, Lampre come to the front and start riding as if they mean it.

3. 315 km to go

   A block headwind eats the lead

   Cannondale, Belkin, Katusha and Movistar all pile in and the wind does the rest: thirteen minutes has become three with fifteen kilometres to go, and the three leaders start the final climb with the peloton already at their shoulders.

4. 42 km to go

   König lights the last two kilometres

   Movistar have set a relentless pace up the Monte da Groba and the favourites are watching each other rather than the road. Where the gradient rises for the last time Leopold König goes, and the group splinters — Moreno, Pozzovivo and Nicolas Roche across to him, and Janez Brajkovič out of the red jersey.

5. 5At the line

   Roche takes his chance

   Pozzovivo attacks, the move is countered, and in that half-second of hesitation Nicolas Roche goes for the line and holds off Moreno — the first Grand Tour stage win of his career. Vincenzo Nibali inherits the red jersey from his own teammate.

The result