Van Aert and Pedersen wary of stage 5 traps as Vuelta stage win opportunity emerges
The Puerto de Paüls and expected crosswinds could make Wednesday's finish far more selective, with both riders seeing benefits in the difficult terrain.
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Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) are both wary of the traps awaiting the peloton on stage 5 of the Vuelta a España, but know the challenges could ultimately work in their favour.
The fast men have one of their clearest opportunities of the opening week in Roquetes, but the Puerto de Paüls comes just 24.9km from the finish, while exposed roads around the Ebro delta could also create splits.
Thus, the stage could become more selective than a conventional sprint, something that would benefit riders such as Van Aert and Pedersen.
“The final climb is the toughest, with some really steep sections,” Van Aert told Sporza. “I know the pace will be high there, but there's still a fair distance to the finish. We'll have to wait and see.”
The 3.5km climb averages 7.1%, with sections above 10%, giving the stronger climbers’ teams an opportunity to make the race more selective before the flat run into Roquetes.
Visma have multiple cards to play with Van Aert, stage 2 winner Matthew Brennan, as well as Christophe Laporte.
"He's super strong, even on the climbs,” Van Aert said. “He showed that to the whole peloton yesterday. It's an advantage for us that there's a good chance Matthew can survive those kinds of climbs.”
“There might be other teams with less explosive riders trying to shake us off,” Van Aert said. “That's when it's up to me and Christophe [Laporte].”
Pedersen is also expecting the wind to complicate the stage, although Lidl-Trek's immediate priority is protecting Mattias Skjelmose, who sits eighth overall, 34 seconds from the podium.
“It looks like there’ll be quite a bit of crosswind,” Pedersen told TV2 Sport. “The key will be to look after Skjelmose so he’s in the leading group, and then we’ll have to see how the race unfolds afterwards.”
“It’s all about him being safe, and we can guarantee that when there are 30 kilometres to go. If we’re positioned as we should be, we can start racing, and I can start thinking about victories.”
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