Tronchon capitalises from chaos to win Vuelta stage 10

Bastien Tronchon (Groupama-FDJ United) sprinted to victory on a chaotic stage 10 of the Vuelta a España in Elche de la Sierra ahead of Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) and Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek).

The Frenchman timed his sprint to perfection at the end of a stage where Visma | Lease a Bike tried to take control for Wout van Aert, who would finish fourth. 

Buoyed by Bryan Coquard’s victory on stage 8, Cofidis had joined Visma in setting the tempo in the peloton throughout the majority of the stage, keeping the breakaway on a relatively short leash, and setting up for what they hoped would be a sprint finish.

However the race threatened to split on the category three Puerto de Socovos inside the final 30km as multiple riders tried to break clear, and the GC contenders as well as Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike) who was actively covering moves.

The final move of Walter Calzoni (Pinarello-Q36.5) was closed with 2km remaining by Brennan himself as it became clear that Van Aert was Visma’s leader for the stage. 

Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS Astana) attacked under the flamme rouge as Xabier Mikel Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5) locked himself onto the wheel. The duo looked to have foiled the sprinters behind, but they were caught just metres from the line as Tronchon came past to take a surprise victory. 

A seven-rider group formed the day’s breakaway including Iván Cobo (Equipo Kern Pharma), Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility), Sinuhé Fernandez (Burgos BH Purpellet), Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ United), Jasha Sütterlin (Jayco AlUla) and Fabian Weiss (Tudor)

Cofidis and Visma | Lease a Bike kept the breakaway on a relatively short leash of a couple of minutes and the two teams would work together to keep the odds in favour of a sprint finish.

The breakaway rolled through the intermediate sprint in Hellín with 60km to go, not contesting with one another, as their cooperation continued to be illustrated, but their advantage was one of just under two minutes to the peloton.

Gogl split the break on the approach to the final climb on an uncategorised drag with 35km to go as only Cobo, Dversnes, and Paleni were able to follow the Austrian champion’s pace, though Weiss would also return to the front a few kilometres later. 

Behind, there was action in the peloton which ignited a series of attacks started by the Soudal Quick-Step, ahead of the climb which also carried on once the climb began proper. 

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was among those distanced at the foot of the climb with 30km remaining as Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) and Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello-Q36.5) launched a move at the head of the peloton.

It wasn’t long before Dunbar distanced Paret-Peintre as the Irishman hunted down the remnants of the breakaway, as Weiss had been distanced, while Visma looked to establish control at the front of the peloton.

More attacks followed from the peloton with 24km to go which led to GC contenders following including Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike) and that forced the race leader Mas to close the gaps.

Brennan was particularly active and placed himself in a four man group that were a handful of seconds ahead of the peloton at the summit with 20km remaining, Meanwhile the breakaway still 30 seconds in front of them.

With 17km remaining, Visma once more looked to put a lid on any further attacks after the Brennan group were caught, and the Dutch team set about closing down the final gap to the main breakaway by setting a strong pace. 

Dversnes and Gogl managed to distance Cobo and Paleni with 13km remaining as one last roll of the dice on the fast downhill section, before the final rise to the finish. 

There were yet more attacks in the peloton with 7km remaining on another uncategorised kicker, as Dversnes distanced Gogl, but was joined by Iñigo Elosegui (Equipo Kern Pharma). 

With Visma losing resources, Kuss followed an attack from Milan Vader (Pinarello-Q36.5) and the duo bridged across to make it four riders in front with 5.5km to go, before Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Walter Calzoni (Pinarello-Q36.5) also managed to ride across to swell the group further. 

Just as the peloton looked to have made the catch, Calzoni emptied the tank with one last-ditch effort, and he wouldn't be caught until 2km remaining