Direct This is how we live the very hard stage
Identical script and the same outcome of a Vuelta that gets used to the usual marking duel between
Primoz Roglic
and
Enric Mas
.
Repeated argument on the arrival at
Pico Villuercas
, one of those unprecedented peaks, called to stay in the Vuelta, a long pass designed for the show-off of climbers and for the enjoyment of fans.
A discovery in Extremadura, an area where the Vuelta has returned after eight years.
A great stage where the main actors of this Vuelta did not want to take advantage of the hard ramps that they had. No matter how tough the ports may be, if the riders don't want to or don't accumulate strength there is little to do, as happened today, with hardly any changes in the top positions of the general classification. The best, a small skirmish by
Miguel Ángel López
and the victory of
Romain Bardet
. A triumph that polishes the Vuelta. The Frenchman has already been second and third in the Tour de France.
A climb where the runners twisted to maintain verticality, an ascent for tough guys, where the public vibrated with the sacrifice of the runners in sections of 15% unevenness. A terrain for the brave, like those who got into the day's break, which began moments after the starting signal and made up of 18 runners, including
Romain Bardet
(Team DSM),
Tom Pidcock
(Ineos Grenadiers),
Sep Vanmarcke
(Israel Start). -Up Nation),
Dani Navarro
(Burgos-BH),
Aritz Bagües
(Caja Rural-Seguros RGA),
Jesús Herrada
(Cofidis),
Xabier Mikel Azparren
(Euskaltel-Euskadi),
Nicolas Prodhomme
(AG2R-Citroën),
Clément Champoussin
and
Jay Vine (Alpecin-Fenix)
. They had a 14-minute lead before tackling the first ramps at Pico Villuercas. No rush in the group of favorites.
Bardet
was the one who put more interest in stretching the adventure to, initially, assault the classification of the Mountain. Navarro, Vanmarcke and Prodhomme, the most dynamic with 30 kilometers to go. The Asturian left in a curve. Goodbye to one of the triumph options of this Spanish cycling unable to achieve a partial victory in one of the three great rounds. The Frenchman was left alone in the lead. Behind came
Andrey Zeits
(Team BikeExchange), the 34-year-old Kajazo veteran, and Bardet, who took the lead of the event with 5 kilometers to go from the top, with Herrada waiting. The Frenchman was the best climber of the escapees and responded to what the record and the trajectory required. Second Herrada and third
Vain
Much credit to the Australian, who despite suffering a spectacular fall, opted for the laurels.
Bardet drew on experience to dose the effort in the final stages, where the road steepened looking up at the sky. At that moment
Martin's
Cofidis woke up
, which accelerated to distance the leader
Christian Eiking
and Roglic y Mas. Jumbo and Movistar responded.
Miguel Ángel López
left, but he barely had to take an advantage of more than 10 seconds. Roglic, always well assisted by
Sepp Kuss
, controlled the situation on a strange day, on a day in which the favorites transmitted a feeling of fatigue and excessive marking. A day in which an opportunity to move the general classification escaped. A day in which disappointment touched.
And this Sunday, the end of the stage in El Barraco, the birthplace of
Ángel Arroyo
and
Chava Jiménez
and the adoptive town of Carlos Sastre, with two first class ports, one second and one third.
A promising day, but here it is not the terrain that rules, but the runners.
They are the ones who decide.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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