'The shape is there' - Gall jumps ahead of Roglic at Vuelta on La Pandera

The Austrian was the main aggressor among the general classification contenders on the climb of La Pandera on stage 14, and although he couldn’t shake off red jersey Enric Mas (Movistar), he moves up to second overall.

Gall made a number of accelerations on the upper reaches of the ascent, with Mas following on each occasion. Together, they managed to shake off Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in the final 2km and they would gain 25 seconds on the Slovenian by the summit.

“I guess in Grand Tour week two, end of week two, you never really know how good you are, because you don’t feel so good,” Gall told Eurosport. “But when it counts, if the legs are there, that’s what’s the most important.” 

The Decathlon CMA CGM man arguably had his best legs of the Vuelta today on Saturday, and he is now second overall, 2:06 behind Mas and four seconds ahead of Roglic. Gall and Mas are aware, however, that the 32km time trial to Jerez next week will favour Roglic.

“Movistar made it pretty hard in the final, I think,” said Gall, who maintained a watching brief until the final portion of the climb. “

“I didn’t want to take too much risk with the heat of the last days and also today again. I wanted to see how I would feel and wait until the end. I’m super happy that I could gain a few seconds on the in the final and that the shape is there.”

Gall placed second at the Giro in May and he warmed up for this race with victory at the Vuelta a Burgos last month. He was also the only man who could briefly follow Tadej Pogačar during his onslaught on stage 4 in Andorra, but he hadn’t fared as well since the Slovenian left the race.

“It’s hard to say,” Gall said when asked if he had now hit his best form. “Fatigue is for sure building up now, and also with the heat, it's just really exhausting. But obviously it's going well and I’m happy.” 

The withdrawal of Pogačar after his crash on stage 8 blew the race for the red jersey wide open, though Gall insisted that his objective was the same as it had been from the start of the Vuelta, namely a podium finish in Granada.

“Yeah, I mean that’s what we came here for and that’s still the same goal,” he said. “I think today was again important to gain a few seconds ahead of the TT, which is the next GC day. It’s still a super hard week to go, but only two hard mountain stages to go, so yeah, it was important today to still gain some time.”