The sprinters took centre stage on the second day of this year's Tour of Catalonia - despite around 1800 metres of climbing along the way. However, the two mountain classifications of the 180-kilometre stage awaited the riders in the first half of the race. In the end, Ethan Vernon (Israel - Premier Tech) won the 2nd stage Figueres in a bunch sprint.

After his surprising success on stage 1, Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike) came second this time, but defended his overall lead. Third place went to Kaden Groves (Alpecin - Deceuninck), who was narrowly beaten into second place the day before.

Vernon benefits from the good work of his team-mates

The finale was a 40-kilometre lap around the finish line. The finishing straight was slightly uphill at around four per cent. Initially, Alpecin - Deceuninck piloted its sprinter Groves to the Flamme Rouge in a perfect position, but the Australian ran out of riders in the final kilometre and had to open his sprint early. Vernon and Brennan then passed him in the final metres. Vernon had already won a stage of the Tour of Catalunya in 2022.

"It wasn't an easy day. Lidl - Trek and a few other teams made it very difficult for us on the climbs. I had to suffer a lot. The team was phenomenal in the final kilometres. We had a perfect move and the momentum from two kilometres before the finish. It was a very chaotic sprint though, because the tailwind made it very fast. Hopefully we'll get another chance this week," said Vernon in the winner's interview.

Tour of Catalonia 2025 - Results of the 2nd stage

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This is how the 2nd stage of the Tour of Catalonia 2025 went

The first half of the race was dominated by a three-man breakaway led by Calum Johnston (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA), Diego Uriarte (Kern - Pharma) and Danny van der Tuuk (Euskaltel - Euskadi), who broke away from the peloton at the start in Bonyoles. Their maximum lead was around four minutes. Uriarte secured the intermediate sprint in L'Escala after 39.5 kilometres. Shortly afterwards, however, the trio's lead began to dwindle. In the peloton, Visma | Lease a Bike in particular endeavoured to catch up.

Accordingly, it was only enough for the escape group for the first mountain classification of the day at Coll Puig del Peni (3rd category) after 80 kilometres, where van der Tuuk secured the three points. With the start of the much more difficult climb to the Coll de Sant Pere de Rodes halfway through the race, the lead of the three front runners was only half a minute.

Juan Ayuso wins intermediate sprint and bonus seconds

Johnston was the first rider to drop back on the 7.7 kilometre climb and was caught by the peloton. Shortly afterwards, Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet BH) caught up with the two remaining breakaway riders - and secured the ten mountain points. However, van der Tuuk defended his mountain jersey with second place in the mountain classification. After the following descent, everything rolled back together - 70 kilometres before the finish, the peloton was complete again.

At the intermediate sprint in Garriguella, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) won the three bonus seconds. A break in the peloton 56 kilometres from the finish caused a flurry of activity, which resulted in a 30-man lead group for a time, before a break-up occurred again twelve kilometres later. Ineos Grenadiers in particular dominated the 40-kilometre final lap, Red Bull- Bora - Hansgrohe and Visma | Lease a Bike won the race. Alpecin - Deceuninck then took the lead in the final - but the team missed out on the stage win again.