The queen stage bears witness to the sensational superiority of the Jumbo-Visma. The American increasingly leader in front of the two companions. Remco already gives way to the Aubisque 90 km from the finish, and so after the Giro he too fails in the Vuelta: he closes at 27 ‘
The queen stage of the Vuelta crowns Jonas Vingegaard, who breathes the air of the Tour de France at the 2115 meters of the Tourmalet and achieves one of the most prestigious victories of his career, and cycling experiences one of the craziest days with the total domination of the Dutch team Jumbo-Visma : first three at the finish line and in the standings.
The 26-year-old Dane, twice king of the Grande Boucle, goes away with 7km to go and finds no rivals in the Pyrenean climb from the Bareges side. Behind him come the red jersey Sepp Kuss at 30″ and Primoz Roglic at 33″; first, second and third of Jumbo-Visma on the summit of one of the most iconic peaks in world cycling, something never seen in cycling in a major stage race. Fourth Ayuso and Ujitdebroeks at 38″, Mas at 40″, Landa at 1’15”, Vlasov at 2’12” and Soler at 3’08”. Jumbo-Visma’s dominance in the standings has also never been seen, with the three riders in the first three places: Kuss strengthens the red leader’s jersey and precedes Roglic by 1’37” and Vingegaard by 1’44”. How to oust them from the final podium in Madrid? Fourth Ayuso at 2’37”, then Mas at 3’06 “, Soler at 3’10”, Landa at 4’12”, Vlasov at 5’02”, Ujitdebroeks at 5’30” and Almeida at 8’39”.
But if Jonas enjoys it and Jumbo-Visma toasts, the day in France definitively rejects Remco Evenepoel, who had bet heavily on the Vuelta after withdrawing from the Giro due to Covid. The Fleming finishes at 27’05”, surrounded by the supporters Cattaneo, Hirt and Knox, while Kuss is celebrating on the podium, and now he will have to figure out how to deal with the issue of grand tours: this season he failed both in the Giro d’Italia and in the Vuelta, his in 2022, while in the one-day races he did an encore at Liège-Bastogne-Liege and wore the rainbow jersey for the time trial.
Domain A day in which Jumbo-Visma once again demonstrates total superiority. The Dutch team does what it wants, first with historic supporters like Kelderman and Gesink, then with the Roubaix winner Van Baarle, and in the final with the big names Vingegaard, Roglic and Kuss, capable of giving accelerations that bring their opponents to their knees. Rivals dumbfounded, and supporting actors. And on the Tourmalet even Vingegaard, twice king of the Tour, places himself at the disposal of Kuss and Roglic and gives the last skimming to the group of the best, before his personal lunge.
Objective At this point the Grand Slam, i.e. winning the three grand tours in the same season, seems almost a formality. Roglic hit the Giro d’Italia by beating Thomas and Vingegaard did an encore in the Tour de France ahead of Pogacar: now with seven stages to go in the Vuelta, it will still be one of them. No team has ever succeeded, not even the Sky team of the golden years of Wiggins and Froome.
Remco ko It should have been the day of the duel with Roglic, and instead the Flemish Evenepoel dies 89 km from the finish at 3200 meters from the summit of Aubisque, one of the historic peaks of the Pyrenees. Surrounded by four supporters, he breaks away under the pace of Kelderman and Gesink. At the summit he passes 1’20” from the red jersey group Kuss, and then collapses definitively on the Col de Spandelles when Vingegaard and Landa attack: at the top he passes at almost 6′. Among the big names in the standings, Almeida and the young Lenny Martinez also immediately jumped, but then practically all the others, unable to resist the forcing of the Jumbo-Visma: the Spanish Ayuso, fourth, is at 2’37”.
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Still Pyrenees The Vuelta continues tomorrow with the fourteenth stage, Sauveterre de Bearn-Larra Belagua, 156km, the second and final Pyrenean day. There are 4623 meters of elevation gain with the tough Puerto de Larrau 50km from the finish: it’s a 15.1km climb at 7.8% average and a very tough stretch at 14.4% average gradient and peaks of 17 %. The Spanish race will end on Sunday 17th in Madrid.
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