Tour of Valencia 2023: Ciccone wins on Alto de Pinos to take race lead

image: Cor VosBrandon McNulty attacks inside the last 2 kilometres of the finish climb and young Thomas Gloag joins him. But it comes together in the last 500 metres before Giulio Ciccone sprints to triumph. The Italian also moves into the GC lead. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 2nd stage 2023 Tour of Valencia

1. Giulio Ciccone (ita)
2. Pello Bilbao (spa) s.t.
3. Aleksandr Vlasov (rus) s.t.
4. Mikel Landa (spa) s.t.
5. Rui Costa (por) s.t.
6. Anton Charmig (den) s.t.
7. Alex Aranburu (spa) s.t.
8. Thomas Gloag (gbr) s.t.
9. Tao Geoghegan Hart (gbr) s.t.
10. Carlos Rodriguez (spa) + 0.06

GC after stage 2
1. Giulio Ciccone (ita)
2. Pello Bilbao (spa) + 0.03
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (rus) + + 0.06
3. Alex Aranburu (spa) + 0.10
5. Anton Charmig (den) s.t.
6. Thomas Gloag (gbr) s.t.
7. Rui Costa (por) s.t.
8. Mikel Landa (spa) s.t.
9. Tao Geoghegan Hart (gbr) s.t.
10. Carlos Rodriguez (spa) + 0.16

Race report
A lot of movement from the start until a group of five manage to open up a gap. Javier Romo, Alessandro De Marchi, Samuele Zoccarato, Mulu Hailemichael and Ben Perry extend their lead to more than 6 minutes.

De Marchi and Romo are the only attackers remaining after the Cumbre del Sol climb. The two strongmen are caught with 5 kilometres to go.

McNulty strikes inside the final 2 kilometres. Gloag comes clawing back to his wheel before the flamme rouge. Geoghegan Hart closes the gap with the remains of the field in his wheel.

Ciccone powers to triumph ahead of Geoghegan Hart and Bilbao to move into the leader’s jersey. Yet, since Geoghegan Hart’s sprint is entirely correct he is later later relegated, so Bilbao gets 6 bonus seconds and Vlasov 4.

Another interesting read: route 2nd stage 2023 Tour of Valencia.