Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) rode a tactically savvy race from the day's major breakaway to take the 11th stage of the Vuelta a España on Yet Another Summit Finish on La Laguna Negra.Vinuesa. The main peloton with race leader Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) was largely disinterested in the chase and any major moves on the final ascent and finished almost six minutes behind the winner.
- On a largely flat day with only the summit finish posing any real difficulty, it took more than 50 km of racing to establish the day's main breakaway, a 26-rider move that included numerous strong climbers like stage 2 winner Andreas Kron (Lotto-Dstny) and the young Groupama-FDJ talent Romain Gregoire. The biggest threat to the GC was Ineos Grenadiers' Geraint Thomas, 13 minutes behind Kuss on overall, and the pack was largely content to let the group gradually push out its gap and contest the stage.
- Herrada, a veteran racer and two-time former Spanish national champion, got a win in his second consecutive Vuelta (and third career stage victory) with a smart ride where he largely hid his strength on the final climb, allowing other riders to parry and chase the eventual attacks from Intermarché-Circus-Wanty's Julius Johansen and EF Education-EasyPost's Jonathan Caicedo. Stage 10 winner Filippo Ganna put in a strong effort on the Laguna Negra climb to reduce the group and haul back attacks, but Thomas' hopes for a stage win were dashed when Herrada jumped clear with around 400 meters to go, catching and passing Caicedo and holding off Gregoire and Kron for the win.
- Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe) and EF's Hugh Carthy both tried to get away from the main pack in the final kilometers, but Jumbo's Wilco Kelderman led the effort to cover and the moves fizzled. The 20-rider peloton crossed 5:55 down to Herrada, with Kuss safely in red and no major changes in the overall; Thomas jumped three spots to 18th but is still 7:34 behind.
Results
[race_result id=23 stage_id=75528 count=5 gc=0 year=2023] [race_result id=23 stage_id=75528 count=5 gc=1 year=2023]Brief analysis
- Thomas and Ineos clearly wanted the win today. He's been well off the form he showed at the Giro d'Italia, with a muted 20th-place finish in yesterday's time trial. And Ganna did his job to near-perfection, lifting the pace on the final climb to shed other riders and set up Thomas for the win. But the move never really came, and Thomas faded a bit in the final kilometer.
- The day was largely – blessedly – absent of the shenanigans that have bedeviled the race's first half, but sharp eyes (specifically Escape Collective's Ronan Mc Laughlin) noted a bizarre late-race incident where the helicopter appeared to be hovering over Thomas at the finish, so low that the rotor wash knocked over a set of barriers.
- For Kuss, it's another summit finish safely ticked off without major difficulty, and another day where his Jumbo team didn't have to work too hard to achieve its objectives. There was little doubt they'd be able to control the relatively short (6.5 km) final climb, but the lack of any major aggression by Evenepoel or other contenders made their day even easier.
Up Next: stage 12
Another possible breakaway day looms with this 150.6 km ride from Ólvega to Zaragoza. A decidedly downhill start leads to a short, uncategorized climb that's the perfect launching pad for a break, and then a long gentle descent and slow rise in elevation on another uncategorized climb before mostly a drop to the finish. The intermediate sprint comes late in the race at Villanueva de Gallego, 122.5 km in, and any action from Remco Evenepoel or other riders will come down to the situation on the road. Alpecin-Deceuninck will likely look to control to set up a third stage win for Kaden Groves, so this is a day for the sprinters and breakaway teams to fight it out ahead of the crucial stage 13 with its Col du Tourmalet finish. Beyond Groves, other riders to watch are Juan Sebastián Molano and Edward Theuns.
Quote of the day
"[Laguna Negra] is a climb where you really have to invest a lot, or have a full team doing work to make a high-enough pace to have a difference in the end. There were attacks from guys further down on GC but it was always going to be more or less the final kilometer for the GC guys."
-Kuss on why the main peloton rode the final climb at a more-relaxed pace
Further reading
- Is GC Kuss a thing or just an American fever dream like France's search for a Tour de France hope? Jonny Long and Dane Cash take sides.
- In a minor upset, Elisa Balsamo stole the opening road stage of the Simac Ladies Tour from Lorena Wiebes.
- Do you like custom bikes? Of course you do, which is why we have nine – count 'em, nine – galleries from the recent MADE handmade bike show.
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