Almost seven-and-a-half hours were needed to cover the 208km stage two of the Vuelta a Castilla y León, almost completely ridden on Portuguese soil with two hard climbs, Penhas Douradas and the Alto da Torre (Cat-1), close to the start in Guarda. Mist and cold menacing the peloton from the botton of the first climb turned into snow halfway through the second, a situation which forced the jury to neutralize the descent towards Manteigas - the section between 84 and 102km into the stage - as Bravo (MUR) and Rubio (EFG) held almost three minutes of advantage in the early break.

With the race relaunched and the escapees caught, the Movistar Team took responsibility in the finale against the crosswinds and split the race just like in Friday's opener. Only twenty riders got through that selection, with four Blues including the three mains hopes for the final stage - Javi Moreno (13th), Intxausti and Igor Antón - as well as Jonathan Castroviejo, who came in 8th place at the sprint won by Russian Sergey Shilov (LOK). The telephone trio will start the Lubián (Cat-1) climb 10" away from new race leader Carlos Barbero (CJR).