Vuelta a España (st. 10)

Nairo punctures 15km from Bermillo de Sayago's finish, gets back to peloton to remain in 3rd overall as 'Bala' stays 2nd - just 1" behind Simon Yates (MTS).

The second week of the 2018 Vuelta a España started off with nerves all around the peloton and some troubles for the Movistar Team, happily and duly resolved, during the 177km stage ten from Salamanca to Bermillo de Sayago (Zamora). The squad managed by Eusebio Unzué suffered three punctures in the last 40km: those by Andrey Amador, Nelson Oliveira and most notably Nairo Quintana, who was helped by the whole Blue outfit back to the main peloton with 15 kilometers from the end.

It was otherwise a day with no major incidents for the Movistar Team, which stayed with Valverde -still 2nd, 1″ behind Simon Yates (MTS)- and Quintana -3rd, 14″ down- in a perfect position of an unchanged GC, as Viviani (QST) won into a peloton very much together. It will be, though, a much more difficult scenario for the Spanish squad in Ourense, with 208km and endless ascents -only four of them categorized- between Mombuey and Luintra.

REACTION:

Alejandro Valverde: “We can’t really say it was an easy stage – we had 43kph average over 180km, that’s never easy, but it might have well been the least difficult stage so far in this year’s Vuelta. Obviously I could have gone for that final bonus second into the intermediate sprint, but actually, except for Bennett and Lotto-Jumbo, no one went for it. I said it before the start and I kept my word – I wasn’t going to contest that sprint. Of course I’d like to be the race leader, but we won’t get obsessed about it. It could be a good stage tomorrow, though it will be another hard day. We had to get through a difficult finish today, with some strong winds and lots of punctures, which made for more dangerous riding. We were focused, got back to the peloton with all of our riders and it’s a good day for us in the end!”

Picture (c): BettiniPhoto.net / Photo Gomez Sport