Matteo Trentin became the 13th different Quick-Step Floors rider to score a win this season as he took victory on stage 2 of the Vuelta a Burgos, on a day which happened to be his birthday. In doing so, he took the team’s 2017 tally to 41 successes.

Quick-Step Floors did much of the work during the 153km-long stage, controlling the seven-man breakaway which went clear moments after the start, keeping it on a leash and reeling it in inside the final 15 kilometres, before shutting down an attack of Gianni Moscon (Team Sky), who tried to foil the sprinters’ plans with four kilometres remaining.

In the finale, while all the other riders were crammed on the right side of the road, Matteo Trentin – who was guided by teammate Julian Alaphilippe – decided to go on the left and launched a fierce acceleration at the 300 metres-to-go mark, which carried him all the way to the line where he edged out Adam Blythe (Aqua Blue Sport) and Tim Ariesen (Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij).

“The guys did a really good job, helping me stay in position and be in front of the bunch with three kilometers to go,” a happy Trentin said after his winning sprint in Belorado.

“Having only two stages for the sprinters meant everybody wanted to be up there and that led to some crazy speeds in the closing meters. I went with 300 meters to go, because in this kind of sprints it’s always better to start earlier and I knew I could keep the speed up all the way to the line. Now it’s time for a nice celebration at the hotel, with a glass of wine and a nice steak.”

Mikel Landa (Team Sky) maintained his lead in the overall classification ahead of the first mountain test of the 39th edition, Picon Blanco, a 8.5km climb which averages 9.1%, never used before in the Vuelta a Burgos.

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