Movistar's Alejandro Valverde soloed to the stage 2 win Saturday in the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, finishing 51 seconds ahead of the Carlos Barbero (Caja Rural-Seguors RGA), who won a group sprint for second. Stage 1 winner Carlos Betancur (Movistar) held onto the overall lead by three seconds over Valverde and 15 seconds over Pello Bilboa (Caja Rural-Seguors RGA).
The 170.6km trek from Bragança to Fermoselle started out in the rain, and crosswinds helped blow the race apart as the peloton split in two. With 20km remaining, a lead group of 30 riders had more than two minutes on the field. Valverde attacked at the foot of the Alto de Fermoselle with Barbero, then later dropped his fellow countryman, opening a 30 second gap across the summit that increased to 51 seconds by the finish.
“We could open some gaps again today, we remain in the lead with Carlos, I'm now second at 3 seconds," Valverde said after the stage. "Things couldn't be better for us at this point of the race. Plus, tomorrow's finish is a good one for me - but we mustn't elaborate much on that, as we never know what could happen. I just hope that these two stages do well on me before Flèche and Liège, some racing form I needed.
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"I also wish yesterday's awful weather doesn't bring any illness," he said. "Even more than the Classics, I expect this to be a good preparation before the Giro. It will surely bring some morale up on me, so I can be afraid of none at the start. I'd love Carlos winning this race tomorrow - we'll see what we can do about that tomorrow."
Sunday's 151.4km final stage from Salamanca to Alto de Candelario ends with the category 1 Alto de la Plataforma at 1,700 metres.
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