A real earthquake. Anyone who expected the big names to battle for the top spot at the Javalambre Astrophysics Observatory must have been disappointed. And yet yesterday's stage The Vuelta was a highly spectacular event. And even if Evenepoel had planned to lose the jersey, he undoubtedly hoped to keep up with Roglic. Instead The Slovenian took Vingegaard with him and edged him by a whopping 32 seconds.
The breakaway went and took away the leader's jersey, but ahead of the big names were some riders of great name, starting with the winner Sepp kuss, passing through Lenny Martinez, Landa, Soler, Rubio and Buitrago. In the general classification, evenepoel He is the first of the best with 2'47” from Lenny Martinez and behind him are Mas, Vingegaard, Roglic, and all the Vuelta nobility. But something creaked yesterday, even if the story is still being written.
Hero for a day
The stage winner Sepp Kuss is euphoric, as he's tackling the third major Tour of the season. And while in Italy and then in France he had no room to spare except to work for Roglic and Vingegaard, this time he had the freedom to win a stage. The long breakaway was rewarded by a well-timed attack.
«It was a very busy day – he said – we wanted to break away to test the Soudal-Quick Step, which was the main goal. We knew it would be tough. I was in front with Van Baarle, Attila Valter and Tratnik and they all rode great.I have to thank them for the work they did. I felt really good, I was just thinking about where I could attack to make the difference. During the whole climb, the atmosphere around me was special, the Return For me, it's magical. A stage and second place in the standings, but I'm not here for the general classification. Winning a stage is already fantastic, I'm taking the Vuelta day by day."
Red of France
On the same day that La Spezia said goodbye the start of the Tour of Lunigiana, who won two years ago, Lenny Martinez was the first of Kuss's pursuers and with the second place in the stage he conquered the top of the standings. The little Frenchman, son of Miguel Olympic mountain bike champion and WorldTour debutant, he looked around curiously from the top of the podium. Even if you work every single day to get to the top, When you get close to the summit, it's normal for your heart to race..
«It's incredible – he said – and winning this jersey is every rider's dreamThe whole team sacrificed. Molard and Storer rode fantastically, and I really hoped to give them something in return. We did it with this red jersey. For every kilometer of this breakaway, I thought it would be nice to take the red jerseyIt was a very nice group with excellent riders and in a phase like that you have to follow your instincts and that's what I did. The family will be happy and proud. Obviously we will now defend the shirt, even if I feel very embarrassed and also a little anxious."
Evenepoel gives up
Headlines about Evenepoel's performance have been alarming in the media across Europe and The Belgian admitted that he didn't have the legs to stop Roglic's attack.
“I couldn’t go beyond my limit,” he said. “Sometimes you have days like that, and today was mine. It's not that it completely exploded, but I was a little stuckI wasn't able to give it my all, I tried to pace myself, and in the last two kilometers I was suddenly able to accelerate again. It was a bit strange. Fortunately, the damage is still quite limited. Obviously I would have preferred this not to happen, but if this was my bad day, that's okay."
