La Vuelta Femenina Stage 2 LIVE: Realini has the red jersey but can Vos pounce in a stage for the sprinters

Make sure you are back with us tomorrow for more live coverage from the Vuelta Femenina. The riders are heading from Lucena/Llucena to Teruel, on a lumpy route that could be one for the GC riders.

Vas will be in red, but will she hold on to that jersey? We'll find out tomorrow...

“Ah man, I came in with a real fire to win this. Starting with the rain, you take the mentality it can either be really good or you have to be careful. I was in the right place at the right time and I had to play it safe, play it smart. It was all down to my team mates making up the distance lost. Then in the final the four of us who made it through the crashes, Kristen [Faulkner] was first and I knew no one would be able to get around [us].

“I had a bit of a disappointing spring, you can only control what you can control. Coming into the Vuelta I just had a lot of fire and I was going to do anything it took to get this win. The team really believed in me. To have a win [here] is just another great thing to put on the resume!”

She finished second in the stage, but that was enough for her to take the red jersey from Realini. The SD Wirx rider will have that when she lines up for the third stage tomorrow, which is a slightly more lumpy affair.

That lead out really was something, but once she hit the front no one was stopping Jackson there. No one got close. Here's your top five from Stage 2:

1. Alison Jackson (Ef Education-Cannondale)

2. Blanka Vas (SD Worx-Protime)

3. Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ)

4. Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing)

5. Ingvild Gaskjenn (Liv-AlUla-Jayco)

What a lead out she got there from Faulkner! Faulkner did a brilliant job for her team mate, with Jackson peeling out and powering across the line. Those two are off their bikes immediately hugging and jumping up and down in pure ecstatic joy. "Nailed it," is the comment from one of their team mates.

What a finish that was.

Jackson is in the mix, Eric is still there, Movistar are at the front. No sign of any yellow Visma jerseys though. Vas is up there!

Jelena Eric has hit the front for Movistar. But there is a chase forming behind. She has maybe 50m. Erix looks back and digs deep but she has too far to go. We'll bring you details of the crashes as soon as we can.

She's only just recovered from a broken arm, but Deignan is one of the riders to go down there as she crossed a white line, with perhaps that rain making the difference. No sooner do we join the live pictures as there is another crash at the front!

Oh this is nervy.

The rain is falling, we thought it would hold off but it is being stubborn. Not enough to make the road truly greasy yet though. As if this one needed more drama.

The peloton is spread across the width of the road, as they negotiate some road furniture. And there's a crash!

That chasing group - featuring the fast finishing Kool - is just 20 seconds adrift now. But if they do make touch, how much will it have taken from them to get back?

That front group is pretty huge, avoiding some chaos late on will be crucial for the GC riders.

Okay, it is all about the sprint finish today. But the GC riders will want to stay safe out there, no one wants to lose any seconds to a rival nor take a costly tumble.

Deignan is trying to control this one for Realini, the current red jersey winner. Deignan's job is to deliver her team mate safely to the line.

You can tell by the way the front of the peloton are getting strung out that the riders are pedalling hard. They are in the town now, motoring towards the finish. Can Visma deliver Vos to the line though? There are a few others who might fancy their chances today in what is a fairly open finish with so many in that front group.

Blanka Vas has latched herself to the back of Vos' wheel here. Right then, this could be fun. Into the final 10k, and the riders are negotiating a few sweeping curves on their way to Moncofa.

Well, well. The gap to the chasers has dropped to around 36'. Too big? At the pace the front group are going, you'd say so but it's not a definite done deal here. That front group are too big to start playing games and costing themselves time though - so that doesn't help the chasers.

No one wants to take Vos plus team mates to the finish, so there is plenty of jostling for position now in the front group, with the pace very much increasing. But with not much on the road to help them, it's hard to see beyond a bunch sprint from this lot.

Who else is chasing? Kool has Ellen van Dijk for company in that group. As for what is going on up the road, Blanka Vas is the virtual race leader at the moment.

That brief moment of sunshine has gone, replaced by a darkening sky. Looks like the rain might hold off to the finish though.

The bright yellow jerseys are easy to spot, with Visma controlling the pace at the moment. Team dsm haven't sent any riders back to Kool - she has one team mate in that chase group for company, with a couple of her team mates in the lead group.

The gap to that chase group is around 50 seconds.

It's a long, flat open road here on the way into Moncofa, and the breeze is picking up. No sign yet of any breaks in the groups though. There's the peloton, and the chasers with Dijkstra having been caught.

This is looking every bit the bunch sprint that was predicted. But not every sprinter is in the bunch. The main GC contendors are though, so it doesn't look like there will be any shocks on that front today.

The chasers are getting closer - and we believe Charlotte Kool is in that chase group.

26KM TO GO - BONUS SECONDS
Those bonus seconds did go to the Volkerwessels rider, six seconds to her as we await confirmation of who in the bunch got the other bonuses there.

More to the point, the bunch contains pretty much everyone you would expect - Longo Borghini is there, so is Norsgaard and Vos.