The day after the successful opening stage, the riders faced a challenging stage from Torrox to Otura. After a relatively flat approach, the 25-kilometre Puerto de la Cabra, a first category climb, awaited them. Laporte, who wore the yellow leader's jersey as the winner of the first stage, was unable to keep up with the fast pace, but returned thanks to the efforts of his teammates.

Meanwhile, Romeo and Leknessund had broken away and the pair took a maximum lead of three minutes. Several teams, including Team Visma | Lease a Bike, gave it their all to close the gap with the leaders, but Romeo and Leknessund held on until the end. Romeo proved to be the strongest and took the leader's jersey from Laporte, who crossed the finish line in the reduced peloton. He now sits in sixth place in the general classification.

"It was a tough day. On the Puerto de la Cabra, the peloton was shattered to pieces and only Matisse Van Kerckhove managed to keep up at the front. The rest stayed with Christophe and tried to bring him back to the peloton. Once we had made the connection, we immediately went to the front to keep the pace high. At that point, Romeo and Leknessund had already broken away", sports director Marc Reef said.

"We did everything we could to win this stage, but unfortunately we didn't succeed. Hats off to Romeo and Leknessund. If several teams failed to close the gap, they more than deserved it." The fact that Laporte remained at the front in the second part of the stage was a good sign, according to Reef. "It shows that he is in good shape and can keep up on a course like this."

According to Reef, there will be more opportunities for Laporte tomorrow. "Tomorrow's stage has a difficult start, but the finish should be doable. We will once again do everything we can to get involved in the battle for the stage victory."