Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla) took a second stage win at this 12 months’s Vuelta a España, as a late assault on stage 20 was sufficient to carry off the group of GC favourites.
The Irishman powered away from a depleted peloton on the higher slopes of the Picón Blanco climb, the ultimate summit end of the Vuelta and the top of a viciously exhausting queen stage.
Enric Mas (Movistar) was the following to cross the road on the summit, seven seconds down on Dunbar and three forward of race chief Primož Roglič (Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
Second-placed Ben O’Connor put in a gritty efficiency to complete sixth, 14 seconds down, which was sufficient to defend his total place on a gruelling penultimate stage of this Vuelta – albeit by simply 9 seconds from Mas.
“This one feels a bit sweeter,” Dunbar mentioned afterwards, referring to his earlier win on stage 11. “I mentioned to a couple individuals after the stage win final week it was by no means the best way I anticipated to win a Grand Tour stage. I at all times imagined profitable on the highest of the climb. I felt good on the second half of the day and I simply backed myself on that climb.
“I knew this climb from just a few years in the past, we did it in [the Vuelta a] Burgos in 2020. I rode the steep components fairly exhausting and rode the flat bits actually conservative to ensure I had sufficient left within the tank.
“I am 12 minutes down on GC, I knew I would get a little bit of leeway [from the GC teams]. I am tremendous pleased that I might maintain on right now. The fellows did an excellent job the previous few days protecting me out of hassle, they actually backed me.
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“Moments like this do not come spherical too typically, I’ve had two of them now within the final two weeks. I am simply trying ahead to sharing these moments and celebrating them with family and friends.”
HOW IT UNFOLDED
The ‘queen stage’ of this viciously mountainous Vuelta (though there have been a number of different contenders), the penultimate stage of the race featured seven categorized climbs together with one final summit end.
Packing 5000m of climbing into 171km, the stage was not solely relentlessly up and down but additionally turned steadily tougher because it progressed. After a pair of class 3 climbs and a class 2 within the first half, the parcours was dialled up a notch with three first-category climbs and a class 2 crammed into the ultimate 90km of the stage.
The final of those, the almost 8km Picón Blanco, was the hardest, averaging round 9% however that includes ramps of as much as 18%, and would really feel much more gruelling coming near the top of one of many hardest editions of the Vuelta we’ve ever seen.
Final featured within the Vuelta in 2021, the barren and uncovered panorama of Picón Blanco is a perennial fixture of the Vuelta a Burgos, and – in ominous information for his crimson jersey rivals – was the scene of a Primož Roglič stage victory in 2023.
The terrain, and the tempo, was punishing from the gun. A number of strikes went and have been reeled in on the uphill drags punctuating the roads main as much as the day’s first categorised climb, the third-category Las Estacas de Trueba.
A ten-man group finally obtained clear. King of the mountains Marc Soler and Jay Vine (UAE Workforce Emirates), Harold Tejada (Astana-Qazastan), Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), Clément Berthet (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto-Dstny), Carlos Canal (Movistar), Enzo Leijnse (dsm-firmenich-PostNL), Thomas Champion (Cofidis), and double stage winner Pablo Castrillo (Equipo Kern Pharma) have been allowed a roughly six-minute hole within the early phases of the race.
One of many extra intriguing subplots of this version of the Vuelta has been the inter-UAE Workforce Emirates battle for the polka-dot jersey, and on the primary two categorised climbs it was Vine who took the factors to leapfrog team-mate Soler within the classification’s standings. Because the climbs obtained harder the plot thickened. Soler launched a long-range assault on the class 2 Alto del Caracol, however Vine and Berthet bridged throughout earlier than the summit, the place the Australian took the KOM factors.
From there, it was into the valley and time to arrange for the day’s way more arduous second half.
The break started to fragment additional and Soler attacked once more, taking the utmost 10 factors atop the day’s longest climb, the class 1 Portillo de Lunada. Castrillo and Frigo bridged throughout to the chasing Vine and Berthet, with Vine better of the remaining on the summit and his team-mate powering forward.
Again within the bunch catastrophe struck for race chief Roglič as domestique Aleksandr Vlasov was distanced early. In an ever larger blow Dani Martinez deserted the race, adopted some time later by Nico Denz amid rumours of illness within the Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe camp. The opposite basic classification groups smelled blood as Mikel Landa – who had suffered earlier within the week and dropped to ninth total – put his team-mates on the entrance.
Soler was caught by his former breakaway companions on the 30km descent after the class 2 Portillo de la Sia, with him and Vine tied-first on 71 mountains factors going into the ultimate double-header of first-category climbs. The Spaniard then cracked on the decrease slopes of the 11km Puerto de Los Tornos and Vine appeared to focus on the stage win – though the possibilities of the break hanging on appeared vanishingly slim.
Soudal Fast-Step’s Mattia Cattaneo break up the peloton on the Puerto de Los Tornos, catching many of the group off guard and taking solely chief Mikel Landa, Roglič and two Bora team-mates with him. Nearly all of the GC hopefuls finally managed to tag again on, with the notable exception of white jersey contender Carlos Rodríguez.
The breakaway was caught with 32km to go however Vine, towards all the percentages, held on to grab two factors atop the Puerto de Los Tornos to win the mountains jersey.
His team-mate Pavel Sivakov – who had attacked additional down the climb – and Enric Mas have been the principle beneficiaries of bonus seconds on the summit, and Sivakov entered the ultimate 20km with a minute’s benefit over the depleted peloton. Somewhat than a full-on descent, a brief downhill and stretch of flat separated the Puerto de Los Tornos from the Picón Blanco, giving the riders little time to get better earlier than probably the most demanding climb of all.
CLIMBING THE PICÓN BLANCO
The punishing gradients of the Picón Blanco, beginning round 10%, instantly made their mark on the crimson jersey group as Adam Yates and Skjelmose have been spat out the again. A serene-looking Roglič and team-mate Florian Lipowitz set the tempo and strung out the bunch, however stalemate ensued as not one of the major threats have been distanced for good, every doggedly clawing again on.
Eddie Dunbar took benefit of the stalemate to assault and tagged Sivakov with slightly over 3km to go. Inside the ultimate 3km he surged previous the Frenchman and the sustained effort started to take its toll on the crimson jersey group, with Carapaz and O’Connor amongst these unable to carry the wheel. Alone, Dunbar powered into the clouds, almost 1500m above sea degree and with simply 13 seconds’ benefit within the closing kilometre.
Landa attacked another time and it appeared like victory might be snatched from Dunbar on the demise, however because the favourites neutralised one another he had simply sufficient left within the tank to seal victory.
Mas and Roglič have been inside ten seconds of him and the Slovenian’s grip on the chief’s jersey seems unassailable forward of the ultimate day time-trial. He leads by 2:02 and appears more likely to lengthen that benefit within the time trial in Madrid, however the battle for the rostrum locations behind him stays red-hot.
Rodríguez was the key sufferer of the day, tumbling to tenth total and shedding 5 minutes, with Lipowitz, Landa, and Sivakov all shifting up at his expense and Skjelmose remaining within the white jersey. Carapaz misplaced some floor, ending simply outdoors the bonus seconds in fourth, and O’Connor fought valiantly to take care of his podium spot with only one stage remaining and the margins razor-thin.
RESULTS
VUELTA A ESPAÑA 2024, Stage 20: Villarcayo > Picón Blanco (171km)
1. Eddie Dunbar (Irl) Jayco-AlUla, in 04:38:37
2. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +7s
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +10s
4. Richard Carapaz (Eu) EF Training-EasyPost, +12s
5. Urko Berrade (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma, +14s
6. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, identical time
7. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +21s
8. Mikel Landa (Spa) Soudal Fast-Step, +23s
9. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +37s
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, identical time
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 20
1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in 81:22:19
2. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, +2:02
3. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +2:11
4. Richard Carapaz (Eu) EF Training-EasyPost, +3:00
5. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +4:48
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +5:18
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +6:26
8. Mikel Landa (Spa) Soudal Fast-Step, +6:57
9. Pavel Sivakov (Fra) UAE-Workforce Emirates, +8:50
10. Carlos Rodríguez (Spa) Ineos Grenadiers, +10:31