Vuelta a España (st. 13)
Colombian from Movistar Team climbs onto 3rd overall after leaving all rivals behind in hellish final kilometer uphill. Alejandro Valverde remains strong, now 4th in GC.
The Movistar Team adopted once again a leading role in the 2018 Vuelta a España into yet another difficult situation, investing all of their energy on securing a good scenario for Nairo Quintana’s success atop La Camperona, first mountain-top finish in a crucial trio through Asturias and León. For most of the 174km stage three from Candás, the squad managed by Eusebio Unzué led the peloton at a hard pace to chase a dangerous, 32-man breakaway -including the day’s winner, a spectacular Óscar Rodríguez (EUS)- and set up the finish for its leader, Nairo Quintana.
A remarkable job from Bennati -still suffering from back pain after a crash sustained before the prologue in Málaga-, Amador, Anacona and Imanol Erviti, the latter a member of the original break, made possible to make up most of the breakaway’s gap -the group including dangerous elements, such as Ben King (DDD), Rafal Majka (BOH) and Laurens De Plus (QST)- and keep Nairo in a good position. The Cóndor of Boyacá eventually became the only rider able to stay with Simon Yates (MTS) into the astonishing slopes of the last 1.5km.
Quintana attacked on the final slope to leave the Briton behind and jump onto third overall -1’42” behind Jesús Herrada (COF); just 8″ after Yates-, as Alejandro Valverde, again quite strong into the second echelon of favourites, remains in a fine 4th at 1’50”, conceding just 17″ to his team-mate at the finish. The Movistar Team will continue to seek for a better GC result at Saturday’s Les Praeres finish, end of another difficult stage (171km) that will feature the climbs of San Isidro (Cat-2), la Colladona (Cat-1), Mozqueta (Cat-1) and Falla de los Lobos (Cat-3) before the grueling 4km, at 12.5% average, from Nava.
REACTIONS:
Nairo Quintana: “I’m happy with this result. Another different Vuelta started today, just like everyone expected. It might have been the first real mountain stage in this Vuelta, and every second which we win on our rivals will be good for us. The important thing today was starting to build a gap on the other contenders, and we accomplished that goal. It was a very demanding, difficult day. The pace was high all stage because of the big breakaway, including riders which were a threat to the overall result. They could seem like they aren’t so close, but they could become a problem later on. The leader’s team worked as hard as they could, but later on, some other teams and us took to the front to avoid the gap getting too large.
“La Camperona – or, at least, the hardest section – is really short and explosive, and there could have been riders who did better than me in such a finish. Luckily, it went well. Let’s wait until the real, long climbs come to see how we really stand, and hopefully open more serious gaps. I also hope to continue having these good legs. The team is working hard and really well, which gives you some good morale. I don’t know Les Praeres, but considering all those climbs we’ll have to tackle before the end, it’s going to be a tugh day. Herrada? I think it will be tight for him tomorrow to keep the jersey, since he lost time today and he will probably do again tomorrow. However, the Vuelta always brings surprises…”.
Alejandro Valverde: “I’m happy to be able to continue at such a good level in such a tough finish like this one. I’m still in contention, after two weeks of racing, which is great. It’s been a good day for us when it comes to our GC aspirations, even if things didn’t go as we wanted into the fight for the stage. We might have made a mistake in letting such a big break form. It made us have to work so hard from behind. It is what it is – the team only could do one thing after that, which is putting all of their courage and energy on the orad. They did really well and pushed so hard. Yates kept Nairo’s wheel well, but you could see Quintana’s so strong right now. Having myself coming right after those two and Enric Mas – I think we can feel happy about today’s result. We’ve also gained some time on Jesús – red tomorrow? I honestly don’t know what we can do, but the team is doing great, also Nairo and myself, and we’ll give it our best up Los Praeres tomorrow.”