Jonas Vingegaard takes win, red jersey, and shrugs off crash - "I kept sliding for a long time"

Jonas Vingegaard is the man to beat at this Vuelta a Espana and if that status was to be disputed, this Sunday's stage 2 of the Spanish Grand Tour has proven it. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider is not the most explosive but was able to win the uphill sprint finish to Limone and take over the race lead in a day where he crashed.

The final climb was all ridden at pace, a constantly rising pace with Visma, Lidl-Trek and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe all taking turns at the head of the group until Felix Gall launched his sprint in the finale. Vingegaard stayed true to his tactic and on the wheel of Giulio Ciccone, whom he saw as the main contender for the win.

"I was on his wheel, but going into the last corner, I actually thought it would be impossible to pass him," he admits. But a bruised Vingegaard had the watts in the short final straight and overtook the Italian. "It was just a bit further than I thought. Luckily, I was able to get past him."

"You don't pass up a stage win. When I saw the opportunity, I wanted to go for it. I'm definitely very happy with it, just like with the red jersey." Although the time gaps are not significant, today's victory creates small gaps with the bonus seconds he won on the competition and already puts him ahead of the competition.

This was Vingegaard's third win of the season, but actually the first in which he could raise his arms against his direct competition. Earlier in the year he won the final time-trial and overall classification at the Volta ao Algarve, before the season-disrupting crash at Paris-Nice. "I'm very happy with how I felt, and also with how the whole team performed today."

Vingegaard went down with 26 kilometers to go alongside several of his teammates in a wet roundabout. Luckily, most of the riders just slid out and didn't experience meaningful injuries - with the exception of Axel Zingle.

But the Dane, who had a bloody left elbow visibly after the fall, is not too worried about it. "I think it's not too bad. I fell pretty hard, but it doesn't look serious. It was so slippery that I kept sliding for a long time. I'm not bothered by any pebbles or anything else; I'll just have bruises."