Timmy Duggan, Valencia stage 2 Having joined the day’s decisive breakaway early in the longest stage of the Volta a Valencia, Timmy Duggan (right) stayed away and earned enough points to put him in a tie for second place in the mountains classification.

Initially a five-man break, the Timmy group shrunk to three riders who maintained a 4-minute gap on the peloton for most of the stage. Timmy was the strongest of the trio and had one second- and three first-place mountain finishes, snatching 11 mountain points. Manuel Vazquez (Contentpolis-Murcia) currently holds the mountains jersey with 16 points.

Timmy said he felt good going into the stage and that “…the plan was for me to get in the break, then see what happened. We were working to keep Trent and Ryder ahead of any splits in the technical finale and get CJ in the final sprint,” said Duggan. “I never did the math on the KOM points. Just did what I could and hoped for the best.”

“Tomorrow will be very important GC-wise. If I can get in the break again, that would be perfect. I could scoop up mountain points and then help Trent and Ryder,” he said. “But first priority is to have those guys really going for it. Should be a fun one because it is supposed to be raining too!”

Slipstream stage 2 results
1. Erik Zabel 4:31:22

16. Christopher Sutton mt
25. Ryder Hesjedal mt
27. Trent Lowe mt
39. Julian Dean mt
57. Lucas Euser :08
69. Pat McCarty :13
110. Dan Martin 1:54
123. Timmy Duggan 5:06

Slipstream GC after stage 2
1. Jose I. Gutierrez 8:18:11 +

8. Ryder Hesjedal :10
14. Trent Lowe :10
41. Lucas Euser 1:51
57. Pat McCarty 1:56
67. Timmy Duggan 6:45
70. Dan Martin 11:10
80. Chris Sutton 12:35
83. Julian Dean 12:35