Vingegaard cuts loose to strike heavy Vuelta blow at Valdezcaray
After relatively cautious displays in the Pyrenees, Jonas Vingegaard reiterated that he is the favourite for the Vuelta a España with a sparkling solo win at Valdezcaray on stage 9. He came home 24 seconds ahead of a surprising Tom Pidcock and Joao Almeida. Torstein Træen remains in red.
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) unleashed a devastating attack to win stage 9 of the Vuelta a España at Valdezcaray and move back into the red jersey of race leader.
The pre-race favourite and his Visma | Lease a Bike team had been unusually passive in the Pyrenees on Thursday and Friday, but they had a markedly different approach at Valdezcaray, where Vingegaard took a firm step towards final overall victory by attacking with 11km remaining.
Only Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) could follow Vingegaard’s acceleration, but the Italian could only last a kilometre on the Dane’s wheel before he dropped back.
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took up the reins of pursuit behind, and only Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) could match the Portuguese rider’s stint of pace-making. At first, Almeida managed to keep Vingegaard pegged at 10 seconds, but the gap eked outwards in the final 5km.
Beneath driving rain, Vingegaard continued to pile on the pressure, and he won the stage alone, 24 seconds clear of Almeida and Pidock.
Overall leader Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious) came in 1:46 down to retain the red jersey ahead of the first rest day, but the Norwegian’s lead over Vingegaard is down to 37 seconds, while Almeida is at 1:15. Pidcock is up to fourth at 1:35.
After a rugged and rapid start, a break of five strongmen eventually forged their way clear. On another day, Michael Hessman (Movistar), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos), Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost), Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic-PostNL) and Liam Slock (Lotto) would have had the firepower to go the distance, but their hopes were doomed by the pursuit of Lidl-Trek and Q36.5 behind, and they were caught at the base of the final haul to Valdezcaray.
Lidl-Trek took up the reins on the lower slopes of the 13km climb, but they were suddenly outflanked by Visma | Lease a Bike, with Matteo Jorgenson making a searing acceleration to tee up Vingegaard’s surprise attack.
Ciccone followed at first, but he would pay for his effort and lost 1:46 by the summit.
Aside from a turn from Jay Vine, Almeida was bereft of UAE teammates on the climb, with Juan Ayuso conspicuously absent. Undeterred, Almeida took up the chase himself, with Egan Bernal (Ineos), Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R) and Pidcock on his wheel.
Bernal would concede 1:46 after he lost contact, while Gall would come in a minute down after he was burnt off Almeida’s wheel. Pidcock held on all the way to the top, even if Almeida was visibly frustrated at the Briton’s reluctance to exchange turns as the road flattened out.
Vingegaard had 30 seconds in hand with 3km to go, and it briefly looked as though his margin would yawn out further, but Almeida and Pidcock managed to limit the damage in the finale.
They stay in the hunt, and Traeen stays in red – but the momentum is all with Vingegaard as the Vuelta breaks for its first rest day.
