"It's a weird climb." That was the most used adjective by the Vuelta favourites this morning to describe the final ascent to Cerler, which made its return on the route after a long break of 18 years. One of the most popular Spanish climbs in the ’80s and at the beginning of the ’90s, today's cyclists didn't find the old road appealing enough for a big battle, and so the 29-year-long climbing record of Oliverio Rincón survived for another generation.
The day began with a reverse scenario of yesterday's finish, with Juan Ayuso attacking right from the first climb of the day, showing that yesterday's flop was more of a strategy than a real collapse. No longer a threat for the General Classification, the Spaniard was allowed in the breakaway of the day where he had alongside him yesterday's stage winner, Jay Vine. With no team organizing a chase to catch them and only Bahrain-Victorious keeping the gap under control, the 12 attackers started the final climb 3 minutes ahead of the peloton. Juan Ayuso was the only rider of the day who took advantage of the steep ramps at the beginning of Cerler and made his race-winning move already with 10 km left, pushing a huge gear all the way to the top. He took his maiden stage victory in the home Grand Tour and his UAE sports directors will surely allow him to target more wins in the next two weeks of racing.
Behind him, it was his team leader Joao Almeida who made the only offensive attempt of the day, replicating the move of Ciccone from yesterday. He obtained the same result as the Italian after Vingegaard refused to take any pulls, triggering flashbacks from the Tour de France in the minds of cycling fans. Technically, the attack came way too late; the terrain left to the finish line favoured a bigger group, and just like yesterday, the gaps would have been minimal even if Vingegaard and Almeida pulled full gas. Once again, the stage victory went to the breakaway, so for Jonas, it didn't make any sense to waste energy today for a small reward. It's not what most cycling fans want to see, but let's not forget that racing for overall victory in La Vuelta after finishing 2nd in the Tour de France is not an easy task. Visma - Lease a Bike already lost Zingle, and they decided to race in a very conservative manner, probably planning to keep their powder dry until Angliru. My theory is that they do fear a bit UAE Team Emirates XRG (it's normal; they just took the third stage victory in a row), and they want to be fully prepared in the last week against João Almeida. At the top of Cerler it was another UAE rider, Marc Soler who set the fastest ascent, 5 seconds ahead of the Red Jersey group. The Catalan needed 28 minutes 48 seconds to complete the segment, 46 seconds more than Oliverio Rincon in 1996. Like Vine yesterday, his teammate Juan Ayuso delivered the most impressive performance of the day, being just 28 seconds slower than Soler after riding alone for the last 10 kilometers.
The next days of La Vuelta will bring two more of the same soft mountain-top finishes, the ascents to Valdezcaray and Larra Belagua being almost certainly promised to the breakaway enthusiasts, while Jonas Vingegaard and the GC favourites won't battle it out until their bike computers show a 20% road gradient on Angliru. That day, the ceasefire will be over.
Course Details: 12,2 km at 5,8% average gradient
28:48 - Marc Soler (25.42 km/h)
29:16 - Juan Ayuso (25.01 km/h)
29:36 - Mikel Bizkarra (24.73 km/h)-Vuelta a Aragon
29:09 - Piepoli, Menchov (25.11 km/h)
29:38 - Roberto Laiseka (24.90 km/h)
28:02 - Oliverio Rincon (26.11 km/h)
31:20 - Tony Rominger (23.36 km/h)
30:30 - Rominger, Rincon (24.00 km/h)
32:00 - Ivan Ivanov (22.88 km/h)
32:55 - Farfan, Parra (22.24 km/h)
33:43 - Delgado, Morales, Vargas, Parra (21.71 km/h)
32:50 - Parra, Fuerte (22.29 km/h)
