Peloton misdirected and Rubén Jiménez crosses first as the only one to go the right way
Robert Förster (UnitedHealthcare) was awarded a controversial victory in the first part of the second stage of the Vuelta a Asturias between Gijón and Aviles. The German won the sprint at the head of the peloton at the end of the 82.9km half stage, but he had not been the first rider to cross the line.
The peloton was all together as it approached the finish but, with 10km to go, it was misdirected, meaning it was forced to stop and turn around. Rubén Jiménez (Burgos 2016-Castilla y León) had been slightly behind and was sent the right way; the Spanish rider crossed the line to take what he thought was a stage victory.
Shortly afterwards Förster led the peloton home and the race jury eventually decided that the victory was his, ahead of Sergey Shilov (Russian National Team) and Jiménez’ Burgos 2016-Castilla y León teammate Francisco Manuel Anton.
As the entire peloton finished together, the luckless Jiménez was eventually awarded last place on the stage, but in the same time as the rest.
With the peloton given the same time, stage one winner Stefan Schumacher (Miche-Guerciotti) holds on to his race lead, ahead of the afternoon’s 14km time trial in Piedrasblancas.