Vuelta Stage 2: Jasper Philipsen sprints to victory in Burgos, Adam Yates loses time

Jasper Philipsen narrowly beat Fabio Jakobsen to win stage two of the Vuelta a España.

The Belgian pipped Jakobsen on the line and his win means Alpecin-Fenix have now won a stage of all three Grand Tours this year. 

Michael Matthews and Juan Sebastian Molano kicked first but struggled with the headwind on the finish straight and had to settle for third and fourth respectively.

Primoz Roglic avoided a late crash and holds on to the red leader's jersey for another day. Adam Yates and Hugh Carthy did not and both lost a little over 30 seconds in the final three kilometres.

Etapa 2 - Stage 2 | #LaVuelta21

🇪🇸 Vive el último kilómetro de la victoria de @JasperPhilipsen gracias a @CarrefourES
🇬🇧 Live the last km. of Jasper Philipsen's victory thanks to @CarrefourES#CarrefourConLaVuelta pic.twitter.com/uOOzoiVLmd

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 15, 2021

All the pre-stage talk had been about the threat of echelons on the exposed early roads, but a trio of Spanish Pro Continental riders was soon allowed up the road once the flag dropped. Diego Rubio of Burgos-BH, Sergio Martín of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA and Euskatel-Euskadi's Xabier Mikel Azparren formed the day’s break and pulled out a lead of three minutes over the peloton headed by Deceuninck-Quick-Step and FDJ. 

With no KOM points available and just one sprint, in Tardajos 16km from the finish in Burgos, the stage quickly settled down with the breakaway tapping out a steady rhythm in the heat of the Spanish late summer. 

Fresh legs at the start of a Grand Tour meant a sly breakaway win never seemed likely and as the distance ticked under 100km to go the advantage was cut to two minutes. 

A minor crash with 78km to go brought down Alpecin-Fenix's Grand Tour debutant Jay Vine, however the Australian was soon back in the peloton. 

Arnaud Démare was one of the pre-stage favourites and his FDJ teammates took charge of the pace setting as the breakaway’s cohesion finally fractured. Rubio left the other two escapees behind with 30km to go, pushing his advantage back up over one minute. 

However, 10km later and Rubio was back in the bunch as the pace was lifted by Astana ahead of the intermediate sprint. 

That effort was to help their rider Alex Aranburu collect more points, but the Spaniard was beaten by Jakobsen. 

In the run to the line the Dutchman's Quick-Step squad battled FDJ, Team DSM and UAE Team Emirates for sprint train superiority when disaster struck mid-bunch as a touch of wheels brought down a significant group outside the 3km barrier.

Bora-Hansgrohe's Patrick Gamper and Jordi Meeus were two of the worst affected and sat on the deck while the rest of the race headed into the final two kilometres led by Alpecin-Fenix and Deceuninck-Quick-Step.

Molano hit out first, followed by Matthews. Jakobsen and Philipsen came late and went either side of the lead pair, the Belgian nabbing the win on the bike throw.

Tomorrow is the first summit finish of the race when stage three finishes at Picón Blanco, a 7.6km climb averaging 9 per cent.