First mountain stage of this edition of La Vuelta, and the climb chosen to end this stage is Alto de Hazallanas, a very tough climb that should see big gaps today. But the stage isn’t all about the final climb, as riders will also have to do Alto de Monachil, less than 20 kms before starting the final climb of the day, while in overall, the terrain of the stage is never flat, always going up and down.
A bad day can make you already lose your chances, but a good day can make you win a lot in this stage
Yesterday Bruno Borges won the semi-hilly stage ahead of Herklotz and Martin, who both recovered one minute to race leader Taylor Phinney. Also Madrazo and Tenorio gained back some seconds yesterday
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10 riders attack in the first kms of the stage, and despite Desigual chasing them at first, it looks like this could be the final breakaway
Lammertink is also the best placed in GC, just inside Top100, but over 14 minutes behind Phinney, so none of them are a danger for GC riders
After 140 uneventful kms, the bunch is about to start the first climb of the day, Alto de Monachil, being almost 3 minutes behind the brekaway, which had only a max of 4 minutes during all stage.
RBC has been setting the pace all the stage, provoking that around 50 riders were dropped from the bunch very early into the stage, maybe some of those risk finishing OTL today. We’ll see now the attitude of RBC when the mountain starts, as after yesterday’s time loss by Phinney, he might not feel so confident now
Half of Monachil done for the breakaway, and it’s starting to lose members, with KoM leader Lammertink, Khodayari and Seboka not being able to follow Heymes’ pace. In the bunch it doesn’t look like RBC is going full gas, as the gap with the breakaway stays around 3 minutes, and not a lot of riders have been dropped yet
This is interesting. RBC had slowed too much the rhythm, with the breakaway’s advantage rising up to 4 minutes, so three riders that have already lost a lot of time before the mountain are going into the attack now. Eastman, Arndt and Marquez. Also, Vinhas and Nesset are trying to join this move, but they aren’t strong enough.
Meanwhile, Benito and Jaramillo have been dropped from the breakaway, which is about to contest the KoM in the top of Monachil
Vosekalns proves to be the strongest of the breakaway, as he goes first over the top of Monachil, even gaping the rest of the breakaway, that now will have to catch him in the downhill.
The trio of late attackers is seeing how the bunch is reactless, so their gap is already two minutes
Alto de Monachil - Cat.1
Voseklans 16
Reguigui 12
Ludvigsson 10
Canty 8
Heymes 6
Jaramillo 4
Benito 2
The bunch, led by Brown, finally goes over the top of Monachil, 5 minutes after Vosekalns did. And the gap to Eastman, Arndt and Marquez is now 3 minutes. One of these three riders could actually win the stage today
With 15 kms to go, Hazallanas oficially starts, though there are a few easy kms before a little downhill, and then the climb really kicks. But Vosekalns feel strong and goes from the bottom of the climb. He can’t wait for the GC riders to come later and beat him
Final 10 kms for Vosekalns, who hold a 50-second gap to the next group in the road, that group where now Eastman, Arndt and Marquez are after catching what was left of the breakaway. The peloton is 2’30 further behind, but RBC looks to be setting a good pace finally
And Vosekalns is caught with just 6 kms to go, but the hardest part of the climb left to do. Eastman and Marquez have been doing almost all the work, as Arndt smartly can argue that he’s waiting for an attack of Herklotz later
Tenorio is the first GC favourite to attack in Hazallanas, with around 6 kms left. Kritskiy and Madrazo follow him inmediately, though Phinney, Herkotz and Martin are joining the move too
And Kritskiy doesn’t want the rhythm to stop, as he continues the attack where Tenorio left it, making Madrazo to struggle to follow it. The gap of the leading trio is being heavily reduced to just 1’20 now
The leader’s group has catched up to the rests of the BotD, and is now less than a minute behind of th four riders that remain in front; Eastman, Arndt, Marquez and Vosekalns.
Meanwhile, Uran, Alarcon, Intxausti, Barguil and Cattaneo have also broke free from the peloton and are trying to join Phinney’s group
There’s only 3,4 kms to the finish line, and we have 9 riders in the first group, as Vosekalns is getting dropped now. And only Puma has two riders here, which could be important for their leader.
Herklotz, Eastman, Arndt, Marquez, Phinney, Madrazo, Tenorio, Kritskiy and Martin.
One minute behind there’s the group of Uran, Alarcon, Cattaneo, Barguil and Intxausti
But Herklotz didn’t need the help of Arndt, as the young star starts to set the pace, as it looked like Barguil and Úran were about to join the leading group. This made Arndt to get dropped, and more importantly, Tenorio and Martin too!
With two kms to go, Marquez can’t keep anymore in the leading group, leaving just 5 riders in front. Herklotz still setting a high pace, with Phinney now placed on his wheel, to avoid any splits, with Eastman at his side, and Madrazo and Kritskiy a couple of metres behind
Eastman cracked with 1,6 to go, leaving Madrazo to close a little gap, that could mean time lost in the finish, and losing the chance of fighting for the stage win. Phinney looks good in Herklotz’s wheel, but until the sprint starts we can’t know for sure
Madrazo can’t close the gap for good with 900 metres to go, as he still has a 7-second gap to close. Behind it looks like Tenorio and Martin have paced themselves great, and are closing the gap to the leaders, but it’s too late for a late surge for the stage win
Madrazo and Kritskiy try it with an early sprint, trying to finally close the gap and also surprise the two riders in front with 600 metres to go
But the two riders in front are much better sprinters, and they open again a gap when they launch their own sprints. Phinney is faster than Herklotz, but the American looks like he can’t get out of his saddle...
... so Silvio Herklotz takes the win in Alto de Hazallanas after a fantastic stage by Puma! Instead of working like yesterday, they joined with Arndt a mid-stage attack to put pressure on other teams to chase, and then with Herklotz being really strong today, it worked perfectly!
It looks like Madrazo could avoid a time gap today, but he’ll be depending on what the jury says
Kritskiy will lose a bit over 20 seconds after cracking in the final 200 metres, with Martin arriving a few seconds later
Tenorio gets a sixth place, losing around 45 seconds to Herklotz, and then Barguil, Eastman, Uran and Alarcon will lose a bit more than 50 seconds
Cattaneo in 11th losing over a minute, with Marquez, Intxausti and Quintana arriving some seconds later
We have now the jury confirmation that both Phinney and Madrazo are given the same time, same thing happening with Kritskiy and Martin at 22 seconds, and Tenorio, Eastman, Barguil, Uran and Alarcon at 46 seconds.
Anyway, Herklotz goes to the podium to celebrate his first ever GT stage win, the first of many to come in the future
Taylor Phinney sees his lead in the GC increased, as now Kritskiy is 1’41 behind him and Madrazo is now third at 2’08 (and best Spanish), as Tenorio drops to fourth (2’12), ahead of Herklotz (2’23). Uran is at 3’09, Martin at 4’26 tied with Intxausti and Keinath and Schelling close the Top10 with more than 5 and 6 minutes lost, respectively
