Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) was the strongest in the second stage of the Volta a Catalunya, crossing the line ahead of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott).
The 166.7km stage culminated with a one-kilometer uphill kick to the line. Matthews lit the afterburners in the final few hundred meters to the line and won by a comfortable margin.
“It was really hard but I was pretty confident in an uphill sprint like this,” Matthews said. “But after my bad luck this year it’s just incredible. I’m so happy. When I saw Valverde on my wheel, really struggling in the sprint, I knew that I was going fast and had some good power, so I’m so thankful to my team for believing in me for this long and came up with a nice victory.”
Chris Froome suffered a bruising day as he was caught in a crash. The four-time Tour de France winner hit the deck inside the last 40km of the 166.7km stage from Mataro to Sant Feliu De Guixols.
Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) kept the overall lead that he earned on Monday with a bold solo breakaway to win stage 1 of the seven-day race.
Volta a Catalunya 2019 – stage 2 results (Mataró – Sant Feliu de Guixols):
| 1 | Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) | 4:09:34 |
| 2 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | ,, |
| 3 | Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 4 | Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 5 | Odd Christian Eiking (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 6 | James Knox (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
| 7 | Patrick Bevin (CCC) | ,, |
| 8 | Enrico Gasparotto (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 9 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 10 | Daniel Martin (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
Volta a Catalunya 2019 – general classification after stage 2:
| 1 | Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) | 8:23:50 |
| 2 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +02’47” |
| 3 | Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) | +02’48” |
| 4 | Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 5 | Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) | +02’54” |
| 6 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +02’56” |
| 7 | Egan Bernal (Team Sky) | +02’57” |
| 8 | Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) | ,, |
| 9 | Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) | ,, |
| 10 | Patrick Bevin (CCC) | +02’58” |
