Vuelta a Espana: Alpecin-Fenix's Jasper Philipsen wins second stage, Primoz Roglic retains leader's jersey

Alpecin-Fenix’s Jasper Philipsen won a classic mass bunch sprint on the second stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Sunday, edging out Deceuninck Quick-Step’s Fabio Jakobsen and Bike Exchange’s Michael Matthews. Jumbo-Visma’s Vuelta champion Primoz Roglic retains the overall leader’s red jersey while Philipsen took the green sprint jersey thanks to his sprint-finish win after a 166km flat run from Caleruega to Burgos in northern Spain in 31C (92F) heat. Roglic’s key rival Ineos Grenadiers’ leader Egan Bernal finished sagely in the bunch as did his key lieutenant Richard Carapaz, who as Olympic road race champion was wearing a gold helmet on Sunday. Another Ineos team member in Briton Adam Yates lost around 30 seconds on the day, dropping to 51sec adrift of the leader, and several riders were held up by a late crash a few kilometres from the finish as teams jostled for position. Roglic insisted again he had little knowledge of the stage ahead saying of Monday’s mountain pass finish “I know nothing about it, haven’t had the time to look yet.” The stage two victory means Philipsen rounded out a trio of victories for the second-tier team after Tim Merlier won the first bunch sprint on the Giro d’Italia and on the Tour de France this year. “It just shows how everyone from the team is really motivated,” said Philipsen, who finished in the top three six times on the Tour in July. “I had a lot of support and this is how we can win sprints. Each of us can be very happy tonight and we start this Grand Tour in a good way.” Dutch runner up Jakobsen can also be happy with his return to form after suffering almost fatal injuries on the Tour of Poland a year ago when crashing into a pole during a bunch sprint and losing all his teeth. Philipsen beat him by centimetres after gambling on an inside run near the barriers, while Jakobsen went the long way round and just missed out. Monday’s racing is the first summit finish, coming after a rolling run, with sections of the final ascent at 17 percent gradient that will create major gaps in the finishing times.