Valverde wins uphill stage two as Kwiatkowski moves into the lead

Valverde powered round Kwiatkowski in the closing metres up the final climb to Caminto del Rey. Kwiatkowski moves into the Red leaders jersey.

The 2018 Vuelta didn’t waste any time in making the going tough, moving from the pan flat profile of yesterday’s Individual Time Trial to a more undulating parcours for the race’s first road stage. At 163.5km, it was far from a long stage, but the sharp shift from a short and flat opening day to the rolling hills of day two would send a few shockwaves through the peloton. Four categorised climbs dotted the day – starting with a second category ascent from the drop of the flag, with the day ending on a third category climb into Caminito del Ray. This was far from a summit finish, and the punchy all-rounders would have their eye on the win here, but with the final 20km being climbing more or less all the way, this would be far from an easy finale.

All of the action took place on the final climb as Team Sky and Movistar came to the front, upped the pace, and in the heat and the peloton imploded with just 40 riders left as they tackled the decisive final 40km climb.

Team Sky and Movistar delivered Valverde, Quintana and Kwiatkowski to the front. 

Kwiatkowski went on the attack in the closing metres, but Valverde was able to overhaul him on the line to take the stage win.

There were some big losers amongst the GC favorites, Dan Martin lost over a minute and Ion Izagirre over 4 minutes.

A very hot day saw several riders including World Champion Peter Sagan suffer badly, finishing in a groupetto, way down.

Previous race lead Rohan Dennis finished six minutes down on the stage winner. 

The climbing doesn't let up as Monday's Stage 3 features the first category climb of Puerto del Madrono at 1,065m after just 20 kms of racing.

Alejandro Valverde said: "Surprised? I am, but I'm not at the same time. I knew my legs were going to do well here. After the Tour de France, I tried to rest up as much as I could, spent a lot of time on flat roads next to the coastline in Murcia, trying to stay focused but calm and relaxed at the same time, making the right form come to me and hoping to progress over the next three weeks here in La Vuelta. The progress I followed throughout August has been proven to be the right one with this victory.

"Before the start, we already had clear instructions of going to the front with the whole team into the final circuit, because there were dangerous, narrow zones where you had to take over if you didn't want to get caught out of position. The heat really hurt many people, I was surprised to see so many riders dropping back though. Hearing on the radio that real contenders for this win were getting out of contention, we were more motivated about seeking for this victory. I knew the biggest rival for today was 'Kwiato', but couldn't wait to just launch the sprint because De Plus was ahead of us. I waited until the last 550-600 metres, thinking about having to go on one long attack through the last few turns. I think I timed that first effort well; Kwiatkowski was like one metre behind after my move, and you could see he had taken a big effort to follow my wheel. I let him overtake me because the last turn right, because I knew that the final slopes gave me a chance to go past, and once we were on that final straight, I just launched my sprint to come out on top."

"For the time being, we've already got a victory, and achieved one of the goals I had in mind coming into this Vuelta. The Tour de France just didn't go as I expected. I didn't feel my legs as I wanted them to. I was also eager to score a victory after two months, and coming back to winning ways in La Vuelta after missing last year's race. La Vuelta - I love the race. The Giro is nice. The Tour is nice. However, the Vuelta is my race. I'm a Spaniard. I love it. We've got off to a great start, and it's day-by-day for us again after this. Any GC plans? I don't rule myself out of contention at all, since I've shown I'm doing great and we're just getting started, but our only leader has to be Nairo, and I can't say I'll stay focused at every single stage not to lose time, 100%, because it just doesn't work like that for me in this race. There are other goals in mind. And if Nairo needs me to work for him because he's in a position to win the Vuelta outright, I won't hesitate to offer him a hand." 

VIDEO: 2018 La Vuelta Stage 2 Highlights

2018 La Vuelta Stage 2 Top 10

1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 4:13:01 
2 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky   
3 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:03 
4 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb   
5 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo   
6 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale   
7 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe   
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale   
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team   
10 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 

2018 La Vuelta GC after Stage 2

1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 4:22:40 
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:14 
3 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:25 
4 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:28 
5 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:30 
6 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo   
7 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:32 
8 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:33 
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team   
10 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:35