Esteban Chaves of Orica-GreenEdge has won Stage 2 of the Vuelta to take the race leader's red jersey, beating Giant-Alpecin's Tom Dumoulin to the line at the summit finish at Caminito del Rey. Nicolas Roche of Team Sky was third. Meanwhile Astana's Vincenzo Nibali has been expelled from the race after accepting a tow from a team car.
Nairo Quintana of Movistar, second to Sky's Chris Froome in the Tour de France last month, was first to attack on that final 4.5km climb to the finish, never before used in the Vuelta.
He was dropped on the latter part of the ascent as the road narrowed – though nowhere near as much as the now refurbished footpath along a rock face from which today's finish takes its name – and came home sixth.
Dan Martin of Cannondale-Garmin was fourth, with Katusha's Jouaquim Rodriguez fifth.
Earlier, a big crash had caused many members of the peloton to be held up with around 30km to go of the 158.7km stage from Alhaurín de la Torre.
Those delayed including fomer Vuelta champion Vincenzo Nibali of Astana, who crossed the line 1 minute 28 seconds behind the winner – and around a minute down on his own team mate Fabio Aru, as well as Team Sky's Chris Froome.
Nibali was subseqently thrown off the race as TV footage showed him accepting a tow from a team car as he sought to rejoin the peloton.

10 thoughts on “Vuelta Stage 2: Orica-GreenEdge’s Esteban Chaves wins and takes race lead”
Bye Bye Nibali
The jury are
Bye Bye Nibali :H
The jury are going to remove him for this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSQW8OX8VqA&feature=youtu.be
Astana have asked for leniency but I doubt they will get it as other teams will protest
Now confirmed…He’s out
Now confirmed…He’s out
How they thought they could
How they thought they could get away with that is slightly puzzling…… #o
I’m sure when he gets to
I’m sure when he gets to Kazakhstan they’ll go easy on him, they are a reasonable lot after all (aren’t they?)
That was ridiculous by
That was ridiculous by Nibali. Deserves to go!
His ‘protected’ rider status
His ‘protected’ rider status seems to have run its course! Not sure what he was thinking other than win (or at least, don’t lose big time) at ALL cost – a top athlete wouldn’t cheat like that, would he?
daddyELVIS wrote:His
Haha. Yeah, its bizarre. It patently shows how tempting and attractive the option to cheat is when compared to losing time.
Sky really didn’t wait around
Sky really didn’t wait around for him after the TdF attack.
As I’ve read elsewhere, the pull would not have been so bad if he has been off the back alone, but the advantage he gained on all the other riders caught in the crash was ludicrous and easy to identify.
Not really surprised by
Not really surprised by Nibbali, he’s never been a good sportsman has he?
Attacking when other riders are down seems to be his speciality (and I think the reason for the Brief Sky show of force following this incident)
So that’s what they mean by
So that’s what they mean by “mechanical doping” 😉