Evenepoel bursts the Vuelta and only Mas holds him in the first hilltop finish

• Classification.

  This is the general

Jay Vine

(Alpecin) emerged from the mist of Janus Peak in the rain, but his victory from the day's breakout was overshadowed by a display from

(Quick-Step), who dynamited the Vuelta.

The first high rise has catapulted, yes, an Australian rider raised in the mountain bike quarry but, above all, it has confirmed two things: the candidacy to win the Evenepoel race and the complete recovery of

.

The Mallorcan runner fought for the victory of the stage that ended in Laguardia, he turned against a spectator when he heard that he was insulting him and this Thursday, in Cantabria, he confirmed that he will fight for one of the positions of honor in the Spanish race.

Only he could hold Evenepoel's wheel, new leader after a spectacular climb in which he left the rest of the favorites in evidence with seven kilometers to go with a brutal pace.

The Belgian is the new leader, followed by Molard with Mas already in third place and the young

in a surprising fourth place

A dry Spain after an endless drought has enjoyed a classic stage of La Vuelta in spring.

Cantabria, with its patchy local roads, coniferous forests and rain, has provided the ideal setting for another change of script in the cycling race that started in the Netherlands with sunshine, crossed Euskadi with the warmth of thousands of fans and It has been engulfed in water for practically the 181 kilometers between Bilbao and Pico Jano, the first uphill finish of this edition of the race.

The hardness of the Alisas port ramps examined the group made up of

(Cofidis),

(EF Education-EasyPost),

(Intermarché),

(Movistar Team),

(Quick-Step),

(BikeExchange-Jayco),

(DSM),

(Trek),

(Alpecin-Deceuninck) and

(Euskaltel-Euskadi).

The escape, which had up to five minutes of advantage, began to break in the valley between Alisas and the Brenes pass, a climb that judged the escapees but also showed the cards of the strongest in the main pack.

Because the

finally showed its strength on the approach to the Brenes pass (almost 7 kilometers at 8.2%) and in the long line that its acceleration generated,

(Israel-Premier Tech) fell, who dragged several runners and cut the group.

Ahead, distancing himself from his breakaway companions,

(Education First) crowned the stop with a slight advantage over Rubén Fernández (Cofidis) and Fausto Masnada (Quick-Step).

The Italian runner, glued to Fernández's wheel without taking over, kept waiting for his team's strategy, which with

as a domestique had pulled the peloton on the Brenes ramps, leaving the red jersey

.

The exhibition of the Quick-Step, a set made up for the one-day classics, pointed to Remco Evenepoel as the definitive card with which to achieve his first victory in La Vuelta.

At 11 kilometers, the world champion gave Masnada the penultimate effort while contenders for the general as

(Ineos) remained on the prowl.

Holding on to the brake levers, Padun managed to extend the lead with his pursuers while Masnada led him.

A Quick-Step mistake that has kept the Education First rider's chances of victory, the team led by Juanma Gárate from Gipuzkoa.

Simon Yates

tested the contenders for victory in Madrid with 10km to go but it was the constant and demanding pace set by

at 8.7km that made the difference.

Together with him, Enric Mas has confirmed that his final in Laguardia was not an illusion.

The leader of

demonstrated uphill and in the dangerous descents of the Cantabrian ports that he aspires to everything in La Vuelta.

In Evenepoel's wake, the duo left behind

,

,

,

and

.

Only

he had enough strength to counter the pace of Evenepoel and Mas.

Big day to dream of the return, at last, of Spanish cycling at the first level.

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