Stage 2

The road

At the start

Dennis in red, a wall at Caminito del Rey

Rohan Dennis won the Málaga time trial by six seconds from Michał Kwiatkowski and has the first red jersey. Today runs 164 kilometres inland out of Marbella with 2,700 metres of climbing, over the Alto de Guadalhorce and the Alto de Ardales, and ends on a stiffening ramp above the Caminito del Rey. Not a day anybody wins the Vuelta. A very good day to lose a piece of it.

How it was won

1. 146 km to go

   The break frays on Ardales

   Maté leads over the Alto de Ardales with 43km to go, but the gap is tumbling and the escape's unity is beginning to crack under Sky's tempo.

2. 210 km to go

   Nibali shaken loose

   Sky and Movistar's hyperactive pace on the twisting run-in shakes Vincenzo Nibali and Gorka Izagirre out the back before the final haul.

3. 31 km to go

   De Plus attacks the final ramp

   As the gradient stiffens inside the last 1,500m, Laurens De Plus launches a vicious acceleration and slips beneath the flamme rouge with a gap.

4. 4At the line

   Valverde pounces at Caminito del Rey

   Sensing the danger, Valverde jumps smoothly across to De Plus and overhauls Kwiatkowski in sight of the line for his tenth career Vuelta stage.

The result