Vuelta a España GC standings – Tadej Pogačar keeps leader’s jersey after stage 2

Tadej Pogačar has maintained his early lead at the Vuelta a España, taking the maillot rojo after narrowly winning the stage 1 time trial in Monaco and then holding his lead after a reduced stage 2 sprint into Manosque.

It was not a straightforward path for Pogačar, who faced an onslaught of attacks, namely Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep), who rode into a breakaway and gained enough time bonuses to move into the virtual lead at one point in the stage.

Then at the finish, a searing attack from Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) again threatened to take the red jersey off his shoulders.

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In the end, a reduced group sprinted into Manosque with Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) taking the victory ahead of Pau Miquel (Bahrain-Victorious), with Pogačar in third and keeping red.

Pogačar now leads the GC Standings by nine seconds ahead of second placed Van Aert, who moved up six spots after the previous day’s time trial.

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His teammate Brennan moved up 13 spots after winning the stage and taking the time bonuses, now in third place overall at 10 seconds back.

Sitting in fourth place is Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM), who moved up two spots, and is now 12 seconds back. Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) also moved up to fifth and is now 14 seconds back.

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Several riders who were in the top-10 after the time trial were unable to hang on to the powerful attacks that reduced the field on stage 2.

Thus, moving up six placed each were Stefan Küng (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), both 18 seconds back.

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) moved up to eighth at 20 seconds back.

Four-time Vuelta a España winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) moved up to ninth overall, now 26 seconds back.

Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon CMA CGM) moved into the top 10 as the race heads into stage 3, a 174km from Gruissan – Aude to Font Romeu on Monday.

Vuelta a España GC standings

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