Tom Boonen (Quick-Step Floors) beat Elia Viviani (Italy) and Matteo Malucelli (Androni-Sidermec) in a mass sprint in stage 2 of the Vuelta a San Juan to take his first win in what is his final season as a cyclist.
Viviani take the lead in the overall classification thanks to the bonification seconds earned.
A 128.5km stage starting and finishing in San Juan was in line on Tuesday, when four riders escaped the clutches of the peloton and built a maximum lead of three minutes. As was the case one day earlier, Quick-Step Floors controlled the gap, avoided the two crashes that took down several riders in the closing kilometers and made sure stage 2 will end up in a bunch sprint.
Nothing was left to chance in the final meters, when Max Richeze and race leader Fernando Gaviria dug deep to take Tom Boonen at the front and launch him to victory, the team’s third in 2017.
“Right from the start of the day, the plan was to do the sprint for me, after going with Fernando on stage 1. In the final kilometer, both Max and Fernando did an awesome job and I got the better of Elia. I want to thank them for their help, because in the end, this is a team win. I’ve always had a good experience in Argentina and this victory shows that I’m on the right track for the upcoming races.”, said Boonen.
Vuelta a San Juan 2017 – stage 2 results (San Juan – San Juan):
| 1 | Tom Boonen (Quick-Step Floors) | 03:00:40 |
| 2 | Elia Viviani (Italy) | ,, |
| 3 | Matteo Malucelli (Androni-Sidermec) | ,, |
| 4 | Ricardo Escuela (Agrupacion Virgen De Fatima) | ,, |
| 5 | Andrea Guardini (UAE Abu Dhabi) | ,, |
| 6 | Ramunas Navardauskas (Bahrain Merida) | ,, |
| 7 | Luke Keough (UnitedHealthcare) | ,, |
| 8 | Manuel Belletti (Wilier Triestina) | ,, |
| 9 | Eugenio Alafaci (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 10 | Mattia Viel (Unieuro Trevigiani) | ,, |
General classification after stage 2:
| 1 | Elia Viviani (Italy) | 06:08:12 |
| 2 | Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) | +01” |
| 3 | Tom Boonen (Quick-Step Floors) | +02” |
| 4 | German Lopez (Agrupacion Virgen De Fatima) | +06” |
| 5 | Matteo Malucelli (Androni-Sidermec) | +08” |
| 6 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | +12” |
| 7 | Gavin Mannion (UnitedHealthcare) | ,, |
| 8 | Duilio Ramos (Asociacion Civil Mardan) | ,, |
| 9 | Oscar Sevilla (Medellin – Inder) | ,, |
| 10 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
