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The chasers haven’t been working well together, and they keep attacking each other. Five of them did manage to get a small gap for a while, but have been brought back again, once again taking the impetus out of the chase. They’re 1:45 behind the five leaders now, and are watching any hope of winning the stage disappear up the road.
As usual, UAE are controlling the peloton, but aren’t showing as much intent to chase down the break as they have in previous stages. The gap’s now grown to over four minutes – we might be poised for our first breakaway win of this year’s Vuelta.
The race is in more of a holding patter now, a plateau and now descent seeing the gaps remain much the same. The five leaders have 1:35 over the chase group, and 3:50 over the peloton.
There’s some distance ’till the third climb of the day, but upon reaching the foot of it there’s barely a kilometre from there to the finish that isn’t uphill.
Pogačar’s team were quick to claim that his being caught yesterday was down to an uncharacteristic lack of legs, but instead due to a race communication fault which meant they did not receive accurate time gaps – implying that, had they known Mas was closer than reported, Pog would have upped the pace to stay clear of him.
Regardless, the way the race unfolded will still give rivals hope that he can be competed against.
It’s looking like we could well have a battle for the stage win among the breakaway group today, the way the day is panning out.
But will we have a battle for the GC, too? The terrain is potentially difficult enough, with a category one uphill finish, and yesterday suggested Tadej Pogačar isn’t quite at the alien level we’re used to seeing him at. That’s raised the eyebrows of his rivals – could they try to test him today with attacks?
KOM – ALTO DE ZUCAINA
This one wasn’t a long climb, lasting just 5.5km at at a reasonable gradient of 4.8% – harder tests are to come later.
The five-man lead group remain together, and are working well, not even sprinting against each other for the KOM points. The chasers are falling further behind, to 1:25, while the peloton is holding steady at about 3:30.
The riders are descending, but won’t be for much longer. Once they reach the bottom they’ll start ascending the Alto de Zucaina, the second of the day’s five climbs.
The five leaders have grown their lead on this descent on the chasers to 55 seconds, and to the peloton, almost three and a half minutes. It doesn’t appear UAE are chasing hard – not for now, at least.
KOM – PUERTO EL REMOLCADOR
Dunbar, Johannessen and Lutsenko catch Van Aert and Leknessund before the top of the climb, and the quintet reach the top 35 seconds before the large chase group (which, among others, includes V Paret-Peintre, Bilbao, and, to nobody’s surprise, Mads Pedersen). Leknessund took five KOM points, Lutsenko 3 and Johannessen 1.
The peloton is now over two minutes behind, and being led by UAE at a steady tempo. This big question now is whether they will allow the leaders a be enough gap to contest the stage, or reel it in to attempt yet another win for Pogačar.
100KM TO GO
A natural selection is beginning to form in the chase group. Three of the best climbers, Johannessen, Dunbar and Lutsenko, have gone clear of the rest, and are closing in on Van Aert and Leknessund. They’re 25 seconds behind them, ten seconds ahead of the rest of the chase group, and now over two minutes ahead of the peloton, which appears to have sat up.
This is some of the chase group in between the leading duo and the peloton. They’re about 30 seconds behind the former, and 25 seconds ahead of the latter, with half of the climb still to ride up.
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For the first time today, the riders are now climbing, up the category two Puerto El Remolcador (12.4km at 4.4%). And they’re not going to soft-peddle up it – the race remains very much on.
Lutsenko, Zana and Bisiaux have been absorbed into the chase group, which contains about 20 riders, and they’re 50 seconds behind the peloton, and just under a minute over the peloton, where still the attacks keep coming. It seems like half the peloton wants to get into the break today.
Lutsenko, Zana and Bisiaux (all pictured) are close to being caught by a large group of chasers, which appears to have at least a dozen riders in it, including Tobias Halland Johannessen, Eddie Dunbar, Marco Brenner and Pello Bilbao. The peloton appears more content with this group, too, and has eased up a little to fall 30 seconds behind them.
Meanwhile, Van Aert and Leknessund are still going hard, and lead the chasers by about 30 seconds.
120KM TO GO
The race remains still very close together. Van Aert and Leknessund are just 35 seconds ahead of Lutsenko, Zana, Bisiaux, who are themselves just ten seconds ahead of a chasing duo of Martin and Raúl García Pierna, with the peloton just another ten seconds behind. This could all yet come back together, or they escapees could form one big group – it’s a very open situation.
Three riders have successfully escaped from the peloton, and it’s a strong trio – Lutsenko, Zana and Bisiaux. They’re bearing down on the leaders, bringing the gap down to 45 seconds, while the peloton remains active only a handful of seconds behind, with more attacks being made. This has developed into a breathless start.
Vader can’t keep up with the pace, and has been dropped by Van Aert and Leknessund.
They’re having to go very hard to fend off the peloton, which is now only just over a minute behind them. The attacks keep coming out of it, and though nobody has gone clear, the pace is well up and spelling danger for the two leader’s chances.
The chase group has been caught, leaving just Van Aert, Leknessund and Vader out front. But the pace is back up in the peloton as more riders show intent to attack, and consequently the gap to the three leaders has been almost halved, back down to 1:20 This could yet be a long time before this settles down!
The three riders leading the race. As it stands, this might be the break of the day – the four chasers still have a non inconsiderable 1:20 to make up if they’re to join them, and the group doesn’t have big names that we know for sure have the power to bridge up to them. Whereas the front group has a certain Wout van Aert.
Milan Vadar is the third rider at the front with Van Aert and Leknessund, and they have a lead of over two minutes already over the peloton already.
Things aren’t done yet, though. Behind that trio is a quartet of Ourselin, Cobo, Roosen and Wilksch chasing, and behind them more riders are jumping clear of the peloton. But even that first chase group has a minute to make up.
OFFICIAL START
And they’re off! And the very first rider to attack from the flag is none other than Wout van Aert, who has got up the road with both Andreas Leknessund and one other rider, and has a gap.
The riders have just started, moving behind the race car through the neutralised section. The parcours and circumstances today do feel encouraging for the breakaway, which could see a first win go the breakaway today – so there will therefore likely be a big fight today once the flag drops.
Yesterday’s stage saw a predictable result, but in an unpredictable fashion. Tadej Pogačar did his usual attack on the final climb, but rather than disappear into the distance never to be seen again, he was reeled back by Enric Mas. He might still have won, but had to outsprint the impressive Spaniard to do so, and displayed rare signs of weakness, even crashing on the descent.
It might still be the first week of the Vuelta, but already a clear hierarchy has been formed at the top of the GC, with minutes separating them. That could become yet clearer today, for what is yet another stage in the mountains.
Hello and welcome to stage seven of the Vuelta a España!