How close?
Jonas Vingegaard recovered from a late crash to win stage 2 of the Vuelta a Espana at the Limone Piemonte summit finish. Giulio Ciccone looked set to take the victory when the Dane overhauled the Italian in the final 20 metres to take the win and with it the race leader's red jersey.
"You're not gonna let a stage win pass. When I saw the opportunity, of course I took it. I'm super happy to take the victory today. It has been a while since my last victory obviously. (When Ciccone accelerated), I just went on his wheel. And to be honest, before the corner, I didn't think that it would be possible to pass him, but from the corner on it was a bit longer to the finish than I thought so I actually could pass him. I went down pretty hard but it seems like I didn't hurt myself too bad.
It's been also a few years since I've had the leader jersey in a Grand Tour so that is also really nice. The legs are good, and hopefully I will be good for the upcoming 19 stages. You're probably not gonna win the Vuelta by 12 seconds but it's a good start. It's far from over, we have to be focused and try to win some more time. There will be a big fight for GC every day I think,"
-Jonas Vingegaard
A matter of centimeters in Limone Piemonte
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) came out of the ether, holding off the challeng from Mathieu van der Poel (Alpencin) with the final stage and the overall win as well of the Renewi Tour. This overall victory in a WorldTour stage race is a first for the Belgian - more than made up for a nightmarish season of injury and illness.
"I don't have words. Winning a stage was already a goal, but winning the overall is incredible. When Mathieu took three seconds and I was third, I said 'merde' - I played poker in the end. I was waiting for the sprint, and that''s what I did, a long sprint."
-Arnaud De Lie
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