Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana stage 2: Arnaud Démare bests Caleb Ewan

Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) won a soggy stage 2 of the 2021 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana ahead of Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal).

On the wheels of a textbook leadout train, Démare was delivered to within 100m of the line with Ewan right on his wheel. As soon as Ewan swung out to come around Démare, the diminutive sprinter was dropped.

Timothy Dupont (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces) managed to hold Ewan, and come across the line in second.

A break consisting of American Robin Carpenter (Rally Cycling), Ángel Madrazo (Burgos-BH), Xabier Mikel Azparren (Euskatel-Euskadi), and Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma) in the KOM jersey had shed Brent Van De Kerkhove (Tarteletto-Isorex) and looked to have the day in hand and were reading to sort out the podium positions in the final 20km of racing.

The quartet had all the elements needed to make a successful break and looked to make good on their near-90 second advantage with 18km to go, but when Movistar, Groupama-FDJ, and Lotto-Soudal came to the front in the final 15km, the gap plummeted.

The break was caught at just 4km to go, as the WorldTour sprint trains lined up to deliver their fast men to the line.

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana stage 2 Results

1. Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), 4:09:23
2. Timothy Dupont (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces), at s.t.
3. Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal), at s.t.
4. Simone Consonni (Cofidis), at s.t.
5. Sebastián Mora (Movistar Team), at s.t.
6. Jacopo Guarnieri (Groupama – FDJ), at s.t.
7. Edwin Ávila (Burgos-BH), at s.t.
8. Colin Joyce (Rally Cycling), at s.t.
9. Felipe Orts (Burgos-BH), at s.t.
10. Gil D’Heygere (Tarteletto-Isorex), at s.t.