In the second stage of the 2020 Vuelta a España, the top riders in the class battled for bonus seconds after a stage won by Marc Soler (Movistar).

Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo Visma) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) lost considerable time on this stage, ending the Dutchman's faint chance of a podium finish when he fell on the final climb to San Miguel de Araral. He is now 9:08 behind teammate and race leader Primoš Roglic. Martin finished in the same time as Dumoulin, but fell even faster as Movistar brought down the hammer late in the stage and split the race in a crosswind.

The Cofidis rider and his team tried to minimize their losses, but with few allies in the chase group, they quickly ran out of firepower and eventually sat out. Martin is now in 29th place, one spot behind Dumoulin, with a position of 9:25.

Gorka Izagirre, Astana's only GC rider, dropped one place to 14th, while Felix Grossshaltner (Bora-Hansgrohe), the surprise package of the first stage, dropped from 5th to 9th, now 59 seconds behind Roglic.

Further up the order, the change in position was much smaller. Dan Martin, on the other hand, took third place, gaining four seconds as a bonus. This was enough to move Richard Kalapas (Ineos Grenadiers) into second place overall. Logrich is now 9 seconds ahead of Martin, and Kalapas is now 2 seconds further back.

Esteban Chavez (Mitchelton-Scott), Enric Mas (Movistar), Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), and George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) occupied fourth through eighth places respectively, with only a bonus second difference in time at the finish.

The climb up San Miguel de Araral gave a glimpse of how the rest of the race would unfold. Logrich was keen to mark the wheel on this climb, but Cus used the American's attack to draw out and eliminate potential rivals. Carapas attacked at the front before the climb began, but was also aggressive on the climb. He did not escape the clutches of Movistar or Jumbo Visma, but he will be a threat to Roglic's crown, and while the 2019 Giro d'Italia winner may be a bit concerned about the absence of his teammate on the relatively short climb, he handled himself well and still will enjoy the long climbs that lie ahead.

Movistar's run was in contrast to many of their recent runs in that it was aggressive and decisive. Their efforts in the crosswinds split the race, and they did almost all of their pace-setting on the final climb. The key was Soler, who, even if he was temporarily separated near the summit, still had enough left to catch up with the leaders and quickly counter.

With Valverde and Mas marking the wheel, it was up to Jumbo Visma to chase, but their chase was unable to catch Soler. The Spaniard moved up to 10th overall, one place ahead of Valverde and 1:04 behind Roglic, as the Movistar team challenged Jumbo-Visma's dominance.

Martin's second place was again the result of a cautious ride. Unlike the first stage, the Irishman chose to follow rather than go on the attack, but his run proved that GC was a realistic goal after an injury-plagued summer. Hugh Carthy was briefly separated on the final climb, but made contact on the descent to become EF Pro Cycling's only GC card.

The main conclusions of the second stage are that the GC riders have strengthened those who have the form to win and those who do not, that Jumbo Visma and Movistar have the strongest ensemble, and that little separates the main contenders.