In Argentina, the heat is the real deal

Everyone was waiting for Fabio Jakobsen, and the European champion did not disappoint expectations by winning the second stage of the Vuelta a San Juan, beating Gaviria and Aberasturi in a sprint. A stage that, once again, saw the great heat of the Argentine summer hit the peloton mercilessly putting a strain on the legs still starved of kilometers typical of the early season. On the first climb of the day a breakaway of five riders formed and was caught with 20 km to go, when Italian Tarozzi tried to surprise everyone: however, Soudal QuickStep led the chase and with the great work of world champion Evenepoel set the table perfectly for Jakobsen’s sprint. In the general classification, Irishman Bennett, winner of the first stage, remains leader.

And the EOLO KOMETA? A lot, a lot of hard work as sport director Biagio Conte tells: “Today we saved ourselves, because the heat was really unbearable: we crossed a desert where the temperature never dropped below 40 degrees and luckily we managed to always give water to the riders. Despite this Raccani and Bais suffered so much from the heat and really struggled. Very good Sevilla who as always sacrificed himself for the team and Bevilacqua who with Fetter and Lonardi was able to stay in the first group. Unfortunately Lonardi, who is our designated sprinter, when the group finally accelerated did not have the legs to hold on. We are still lacking a little bit of condition, so we hope to recover for the next stages when we will try to get into a breakaway. Today, really, it was not possible to do more.”