Castilla y León: stage 2

Rubén Pérez sprinted to a creditable fifth on today's 213km second stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y León between Valladolid and Salamanca. The 30-year-old took 10th yesterday and improved on that today, meaning he's now a lofty fourth overall. He's not going to stay there for long, though, as the climbers will have their day in the sun tomorrow. Speaking of the climbers, Antón, Nieve and co. all made it in with the pack today. Sesma, who was once again off the front animating the break along with Orbea's Urain, in the end paid for his efforts and conceded 2:52 by stage's end. Not that he'd care too much about that though. Being aggressive and getting into the break was obviously his target and he succeeded. The Orbea youngsters found the going a little bit tougher. Aberasturi and García didn't have the strength to sprint at the end of the day, while Sáez lost 0:18, Bizkarra 0:51, Cabedo and Etxebarria 2:00 and Urain 4:13. Tomorrow's stage to Laguna de los Peces will tell us a lot about Antón's shape less than a month before the Giro, so he'll be hoping to finish at least top 10 I reckon tomorrow. Nieve should also be able to stay with the likes of Tondo and Contador, so it promises to be an exciting stage. Check back tomorrow afternoon for results.