Ciccone beats Roglic and Evenepoel on stage 2 of Catalunya

CTT

Giulio Ciccone won a tortuous, mountainous slog on stage two of the Volta a Catalunya on Tuesday just ahead of Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel.

The trio had chased down and overtaken Esteban Chaves over the final 500m of a twisting shoelace climb to set up a pulsating struggle to the summit finish at a snowy 2150m altitude.

The result leaves Roglic in the overall lead on a race already bearing the familiar pattern of Jumbo-Visma’s black and yellow tunics heading up the main peloton.

“This is the most beautiful win of my career, a magical day,” said Ciccone.

Mikel Landa, Jai Hindley and Joao Almeida were all close at the finish of a 164km ride featuring three climbs. Adam Yates won here the last two times the Volta a Catalunya passed but he fell Monday and rolled across the line battered and 10mins behind.

Former Tour de France and Giro d’Italia winner Egan Bernal fell off the pace dropping 2min 45sec and seems to be still recovering from a life threatening accident 16 months ago.

Geraint Thomas also dropped 2min24sec on stage two as the Welsh veteran played it cool.

Wednesday’s third of seven stages is another major day of mountain action with three huge summits on the way to another ski resort at La Molina.

Reviu l'últim quilòmetre de l'Etapa entre @matarocat – @Vallter2000/@AjSetcases (@valldecamprodon) i la victòria de @giuliocicco1 (@TrekSegafredo)
?Relive the last Km os the stage with the win of @giuliocicco1 (@TrekSegafredo) pic.twitter.com/vH29wT8Xe6
— Volta a Catalunya (@VoltaCatalunya) March 21, 2023