Vuelta a España 2008/2. stage

Result of the 2nd stage
Stage winner		Alejandro Valverde	GCE	4:23:00 h
Second		Davide rebel	GST	+ 0:02 min
Third		Alessandro Ballan	LAM	equal time
Fourth		Greg van Avermaet	SIL	equal time
fifth		Filippo Pozzato	LIQ	equal time
Sixth		Rinaldo Nocentini	ALM	equal time
seventh		Erik Zabel	MRM	equal time
Eighth		Paolo Bettini	QST	equal time
Ninth		Philippe Gilbert	FDJ	equal time
Tenth		Xavier Florencio	BTL	equal time
Intermediate results after the 2nd stage
Overall rating		Alejandro Valverde	GCE	4:31:10 h
Second		Filippo Pozzato	LIQ	+ 0:13 min
Third		Daniele Bennati	LIQ	equal time
Scoring		Alejandro Valverde	GCE	25 p.
Second		Davide rebel	GST	20 p.
Third		Alessandro Ballan	LAM	16 p.
Mountain scoring		Jesus Rosendo	ACA	6 p.
Second		Cyril Lemoine	CA	4 p.
Third		Mikhail Ignatiev	TCS	2 p.
Combination scoring		Egoi Martínez	EUS	20 p.
Second		Jesus Rosendo	ACA	177 P.
Third		Mikhail Ignatiev	TCS	193 P.
Team evaluation		Caisse d'Epargne	GCE	13:17:34
Second		Euskaltel-Euskadi	EUS	+ 0:01 min
Third		Quick Step	QST	+ 0:03 min

The 2nd stage of the Vuelta a España 2008 on August 31st led over 176.3 kilometers from Granada to Jaén . There were two sprint classifications and a third category mountain classification to be completed.

After the short team time trial the day before, the first real stage took place today. As was to be expected, there were some efforts from the beginning, especially by the Spanish teams, to create an escape group. After five kilometers Egoi Martínez and Jesus Rosendo succeeded , who were shortly followed by Cyril Lemoine and Michail Ignatjew . The quartet was able to pull out a maximum lead of four minutes. The field, led by the team of overall leader Liquigas , did not allow more . The outliers were able to secure the first sprint classification and the only mountain classification of the day. The latter was won by Rosendo, who secured the first red jersey of the leader in the mountain classification . When the lead melted, Martínez attacked from the quartet and was able to break away again with Rosendo, so that this duo now formed the top. Martínez attacked again 22 kilometers from the finish, but he had no success as a soloist for a long time and was overtaken by the field. Before the second intermediate sprint, another duo pulled away and won it: Mauricio Ardila and Xabier Zandio . The course of the race became more and more restless and there were many attacks. However, all of these remained unsuccessful and there was a mass sprint. The sprint to the finish was no less lively either and some drivers tried to reach the finish line as an outlier. Alejandro Valverde finally succeeded and he won by two seconds ahead of the field. With the additional time credit of 20 seconds and 25 points for the winner of the day, he was also able to take over the golden jersey and also the red jersey of the winner. The first leader in the combined classification was Egoi Martínez.

Sprint ratings

• 1st intermediate sprint at approx. 132 km (m above sea level)

First		Egoi Martínez	EUS	4 p.
Second		Jesus Rosendo	ACA	2 p.
Third		Mikhail Ignatiev	TCS	1 P.

• 2nd intermediate sprint at approx. Km 157 (m above sea level)

First		Mauricio Ardila	RAB	4 p.
Second		Xabier Zandio	GCE	2 p.
Third		Iñigo Landaluze	EUS	1 P.

• Arrival in Jaén (530 m above sea level)

First		Alejandro Valverde	GCE	25 p.
Second		Davide rebel	GST	20 p.
Third		Alessandro Ballan	LAM	16 p.
Fourth		Greg van Avermaet	SIL	14 p.
fifth		Filippo Pozzato	LIQ	12 p.
Sixth		Rinaldo Nocentini	ALM	10 p.
seventh		Erik Zabel	MRM	9 p.
Eighth		Paolo Bettini	QST	8 p.
Ninth		Philippe Gilbert	FDJ	7 p.
Tenth		Xavier Florencio	BTL	6 p.
11.		Nicolas Roche	CA	5 p.
12.		Stefan Schumacher	GST	4 p.
13.		Leonardo Duque	COF	3 p.
14th		Dmitriy Kozontchuk	RAB	2 p.
15th		Matthew Lloyd	SIL	1 P.

Mountain ratings

• Puerto de Huelma, 3rd category (kilometer 84) (m above sea level)

First		Jesus Rosendo	ACA	6 p.
Second		Cyril Lemoine	CA	4 p.
Third		Mikhail Ignatiev	TCS	2 p.
Fourth		Egoi Martínez	EUS	1 P.