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Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) defended red Wednesday after the GC group rode the finale largely without seeing any major moves in the summit finish at La Laguna Negra in Wednesday’s 11th stage at the Vuelta a España.
“It was quite a nice day. We were happy to let the group go for the stage win, and ride the last climb more defensively,” Kuss said. “Fast or slow, it would have been more or less a sprint in the end like we had today anyway.
“It’s a climb when you have to invest a lot to make the pace high enough to have differences in the end,” Kuss said. “We saw a few guys a bit further down in the GC make some attacks. I think everyone was looking at each other a little bit.”
Kuss defended his 26-second lead to Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) still third at 1:09 back.
Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) won with a well-timed attack in the closing 300 meters out of the day’s big attacking group.
A day after Tuesday’s decisive time trial, a big breakaway pulled clear late in the transition stage after a big fight to form the group. With more than five minutes, it had enough rope to challenge for the stage.
Ineos Grenadiers was intent to make up for a rough start of this Vuelta, and placed Tuesday’s time trial winner Filippo Ganna and Geraint Thomas into the move.
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Seven were still standing coming into the closing kilometer. Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education First-EasyPost) jumped on the steepest ramps, with Thomas doing the work to reel him in.
Herrada (Cofidis) took up the chase with 300m to go to win. Thomas trailed through in fifth.
“I am just disappointed I couldn’t finish it off,” Thomas said. “I felt like I had no gas in the end. We gave it everything, that’s what we had on the day.
“I saw [Ganna] at the start, and he reminds me a bit of Van Aert in the Tour last year,” he said “He was going and the bunch was splitting up, he was making the break. He’s got so much gas and he’s going so well. It was probably too steep for him here, and he committed for me, and it’s a shame I couldn’t finish it off. We’ll keep trying.”
Despite the steep ramps at the end sharp of the stage, the GC favorites largely marked each other.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) pounced with 100m, but Kuss was quick to jump on the wheel.
The American finished the stage with his leader’s still firmly on his shoulders.
No attacks from Remco Evenepoel
The pack rolls through Santo Domingo de Silos in Wednesday’s stage. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
The main bunch was fine to let the breakaway for the spoils.
Jumbo-Kuss controlled the pace as Kuss started another stage in red. Steep grades in the final climb would make for another thrilling finale.
One surprise was seeing Evenepoel keep things quiet on a day when many expected him to attack.
“It was a good day for all of us. We were in front and some guys started to set the pace. I saying to them to stay calm and to slow down because it’s not for us to take the race into our hands,” Evenepoel said. “It made no sense to do any hard pacing on this climb. I am not going to attack on every climb. It’s still a super-long Vuelta. Jumbo has all the cards in their hards, and I don’t need to attack on every climb.
“They have a super strong team for the high mountains. It will be a bigger task to follow them than to attack myself.”
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) crashed in the rollout and later raced with a bandage on his arm.
The Vuelta continues Thursday with another stage tailored for the bunch sprinters remaining in the pack. The 150.6km 12th stage runs from Ólvega to Zaragoza.
Three decisive stages are stacked up in the Pyrénées from Friday to Sunday.