Ben King backed up stage 1’s impressive ride at the Volta a Valenciana with a commanding display on stage 2, extending his lead in the KOM classification.

King now has a total of 30 points with his closest competitor, race leader Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team), and teammate Joey Rosskopf, tied for second on 8 points. 

Human Powered Health™ proved that the team has made an art form out of joining the breakaway with both King and US national champion Rosskopf joining the day’s six-rider move. 

“The whole team was great at helping me get in the break,” King said afterward. “That was the hardest part. Once we were there, Joey did an awesome job supporting me all day.” 

With a maximum of 21 KOM points on the roads from Bétera to Torrent, King quickly got to work raising his tally by coming out on top over the category three Bétera and Rio Juanes climbs. He then backed these performances up with a masterclass when it mattered most on the category 2 climbs of La Muela and Fuenta La Real. 

All the while crucially, Rosskopf was also scoring points, regularly cresting the climbs in the top three to create a buffer for King. 

The mountainous terrain of stage 3 from Alicante to Antenas del Maigmó undoubtedly makes it the week’s toughest test but with a big lead in the competition, King is in the driver’s seat for the classification chase. 

“There are 31 points in total tomorrow but 10 are the summit finish so unless something really crazy happens we should keep the jersey. We’ll only need to watch a couple of guys at the start,” he said of the team’s plans. 

You won’t want to miss Friday’s Queen stage, watch the racing from 10 am ET on the Eurosport Player and GCN+.   

Volta Valenciana KOM standings
1 KING Ben – Human Powered Health 30
2 EVENEPOEL Remco – Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 8
3 ROSSKOPF Joey – Human Powered Health 8
4 EZQUERRA Jesús – Burgos-BH 6
5 BOU Joan – Euskatel-Euskadi 6