Onley powers to Burgos stage 2 victory on return from injury

Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) powered to victory on stage 2 of the Vuelta a Burgos in Pineda de la Sierra ahead of Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Enric Mas (Movistar). 

It marks the 23-year-old rider's first individual victory in the colours of Netcompany-Ineos, and a positive indication following his return to action from injury. 

Stage 2 of the Vuelta a Burgos from Arcos de la Llana to Pineda de la Sierra took the peloton through 178km of Castilian terrain with 2,308m of elevation, culminating in the summit finish on the Valle del Sol (3.4km at 7.6%).

The stage was animated by a five-rider break comprising Rodrigo Álvarez (Burgos Burpellet BH), Javier Ibáñez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Rayan Boulahoite (TotalEnergies), Diego Uriarte (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Yago Aguirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi). 

The quintet built a lead of just over a minute across the early kilometres before Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe and Team Visma | Lease a Bike began to close them down.

The peloton kept the gap manageable throughout, with the sprinters' teams tempering the ambitions of the breakaway ahead of the closing climbs. 

Race leader Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike) was dropped from the peloton on the approach to the closing kilometres, opening the door for the general classification to reshuffle at the summit.

Netcompany-Ineos took control of the finale for Oscar Onley, who was returning from the injury layoff that followed his horror crash into a ravine at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, which ruled him out of the Tour de France.

Another man returning from injury was Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who was the first to launch inside the final kilometre, but he was unable to create a gap.

It was a real uphill scrap for victory, but it was Onley who packed the punch needed to secure the stage win.

The Scotsman finished ahead of Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), with Enric Mas (Movistar) finishing a handful of seconds behind.

Stage 3 of the Vuelta a Burgos on Thursday is the queen stage of the race, with the Estacas de Trueba, Alto de la Hoya and the summit finish on the Puerto del Escudo (7km at 9%) all featuring across the 184-kilometre stage.