The Belgian is the new red jersey
Kaden Groves (Alpecin Deceuninck) wins the second stage of the Vuelta from Cascais to Ourem, 194km.
The stage was run at a very slow pace, with the Spanish duo of Ruiz and Matè breaking away and being caught 50 km from the finish.
On the Alto da Batalha, a fourth category GPM in the finale, the group maintains a steady pace, without anyone attempting an attack.
The stage was decided by a bunch sprint with Affini working for Van Aert on the home straight, but Groves took the Belgian's slipstream, overtook him and beat him to the finish line in Ourem. Third place for Strong .
Van Aert, thanks to the time bonus, is the new red jersey of the Vuelta with a 3" advantage over McNulty.
In the very fast final, a fall is reported in the belly of the group: the ones who pay the price are Narvaez, Poole, Kron and Tarling. All the riders involved nevertheless reached the finish line.
ORDER OF ARRIVAL:
1 GROVES Kaden Alpecin - Deceuninck 5:12:55
2 VAN AERT Wout Team Visma | Lease a Bike,,
3 STRONG Corbin Israel - Premier Tech,,
4 MIQUEL Pau Equipo Kern Pharma,,
5 VAN EETVELT Lennert Lot Dstny,,
6 BITTNER Pavel Team dsm-firmenich PostNL ,,
7 ABERASTURI Jon Euskaltel - Euskadi ,,
8 VLASOV Aleksandr Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe ,,
9 RIVERA Brandon Smith INEOS Grenadiers,,
10 BARONCINI Filippo UAE Team Emirates ,,
Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency