Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) secured his second consecutive stage win at the Tour of the Basque Country on Tuesday.
Alaphilippe broke away on the final climb, beating again Primoz Roglic (LottoNl-Jumbo). After winning Monday’s first stage too, the Frenchman now holds an eight-second lead over Roglic in the general classification, with Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) 39 seconds back in third.
“It’s crazy, I was really happy with my victory yesterday and today it was a special feeling to have the yellow jersey,” Alaphilippe said.
“It’s a really hard race. I felt already today the effort of yesterday and the hardest part is to come. I just want to enjoy it and of course to keep the yellow jersey for as long as possible.”
The race continues on Wednesday with the third stage, lasting 184.8 kilometres between Bermeo and Valdegovia.
Tour of the Basque Country 2018 – stage 2 results (Zarautz – Bermeo):
| 1 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | 4:11:47 |
| 2 | Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 3 | Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 4 | Mikel Landa (Movistar) | ,, |
| 5 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +15” |
| 6 | Eduard Prades (Euskadi Basque Country-Murias) | ,, |
| 7 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | ,, |
| 8 | Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 9 | Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 10 | Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
General classification after stage 2:
| 1 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | 8:29:13 |
| 2 | Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +08” |
| 3 | Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) | +39” |
| 4 | Mikel Landa (Movistar) | +43” |
| 5 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | +54” |
| 6 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +58” |
| 7 | Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 8 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 9 | Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 10 | Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
