Tuesday, August 20th Grade 4
Placencia – Pico Villerucas 170.5km (mountain/mountain finish)
The 79th Vuelta a España has left its opening venue in Portugal and finally entered Spain. The fourth day of the competition was the first mountain stage of the competition, and we cleared the mountains in stages 2 and 1 early. After passing the 3rd class mountain in the second half of the race, the last 1st class mountain, Pico Viljerucas (distance 14.6km / average 6.2%) had a gentle slope of 3-4% average of 3 -4% for the first 10km, and from 5km before the finish, the slope was in double figures.
The highlight of the day was the performance of Primoš Roglič (Slovakia, Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe), who finished the first day’s individual time trial in 8th place. Roglič suffered a hip fracture at the Tour de France in July, and has answered in daily interviews that he still has pain in his lower back. Roglič’s situation, which has been closely watched not only by his fans but also by his rivals, finally became clear during the last climb.
The mountain stage of the Vuelta has finally started, and from the start Joshua Tarling (Great Britain, Ineos Grenadiers) and Mauro Schmidt (Switzerland, Jayco AlUla) aim to escape. However, none of them succeeded, and after a fierce battle of attacks, a group of five, including the French TT champion Bruno Almirail (Decatron AG2R Ramondiale) and Filippo Zana (Italy, Jayco Aloura), escaped to form .
In the main group, Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe led the way, allowing a lead of up to three and a half minutes against the escape. Sylvain Moniquet (Belgium, Lot Destiny), who announced that he will be moving to Cofidis, got through first in the 2nd and 1st class hills set in the first half of the course. On this day, Euskaltel Euskadi Miquel Vizcarra (Spain) replaced Luis Maté (Spain), the top of the mountaineering ranking, to run away, so Monique got the right to wear the Maillot Montaña (alpine competition jersey).
In the scorching heat of over 40 degrees Celsius, the group ran into Class 3 mountains starting with 55km to go, with a difference of 2 minutes and 14 seconds. Then, 700m before the summit, Almirail attacked and increased the lead to three minutes. However, after that, the number of runners returned to five, and Almirail attacked again on the flat section leading up to the last hill.
Almirail switched to his preferred TT mode, and Pablo Castrillo (Spain, Equipo Köln Farma) was the only one to catch up. The Proton, still led by Red Bull, gradually reduced the time difference, and Castrillo passed first in the intermediate sprint with 15.4km remaining. In the main group, Kaden Groves (Australia, Alpecin Deceuninck), who had held his own until this point, beat Wout van Aert (Belgium, Wisma-Lies-A- Bijk) and reduced the difference in points for Maillot Puntos.
The athletes then set foot on the final Class 1 mountain, Pico Viluelcas (distance 14.6km / average 6.2%). After passing the first 10km, which was a gentle gradient of 3-4% on average, the difference between the Escape and the Proton was 14 seconds at the point where it entered the slope leg Speed control changed from Red Bull to Team Emirates UAE, and front-runner Pavel Sivakov (Russia) jumped out and grabbed the breakaway.
Sivakov’s move was crushed by Aleksandr Vlasov (Russia, Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe), and Felix Gall (Austria, Decathlon AG2R Ramondial) slipped out of the narrow group. This time, Roglič caught himself, leaving Gall, Lennart van Ietveldt (Belgium, Lotto Destiny), and Enrik Mas (Spain, Movistar) in the lead. At the back, Adam Yates (UK, Emirates Team UAE) was behind, and Sepp Kuss (USA, Visma Liesabike) was unable to keep up with the pace of the leaders.
When Gall dropped out, the leaders were narrowed down to Roglič, van Ietveldt, and Mas. However, after going through a steep section, Joao Almeida (Portugal, Emirates Team UAE) and Matthew Ricchitello (USA, Israel Premier Tech) joined the lead on a gentle slope. Mikel Landa (Spain, T-Rex Quickstep) also joined the team with 300m remaining, making the race a seven-man sprint.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to both keep an eye on each other and slow down, Landa took the lead and began to sprint. 23-year-old Van Ietveldt accepted this, and Roglič was behind him. Van Ietveldt continued to struggle after catching Landa, but Roglič passed him just before the end.
It’s been about a month since the device crashed. Roglič, who got a surprise comeback win, said, “I’m happier with the team than myself with my lower back, but I knew I couldn’t get worse. Roglič, who was also first overall, made the familiar signal on the podium and passed Mayorrojo.
Kuss, who came close to winning the overall championship, finished 28 seconds behind in 11th place (13th overall), while Yates finished 1 minute 29 seconds behind in 26th place, dropping out from the entire race.
2024-08-20 23:40:00
#Vueltas #mountaintop #finish #Roglič #returns #top #victory #injury #Vuelta #España #4th #stage
