Although the Vuelta is still in the air, with plenty of candidates for the throne, there is one maxim that has not failed for the moment: O’Connor, the leader, the one who turned the race upside down with a breakaway that will go down in history, withstands the attacks in the long mountains, but loses time on the short cliffs. It happened to him in Cazorla and it happened again on Tuesday in Padrón, three kilometres with an average gradient of 8.9% that were hard for him to digest. Eden for Roglic and Mas, who managed to cut 37 seconds off him. [ahora el australiano tiene una renta de 3m 16s sobre el esloveno y de 3m 58s sobre el español]who remain determined to achieve reconquest, to reclaim their crown for Madrid. “I didn’t want to lose time, but there’s one less stage left,” admitted O’Connor, a little disappointed. Things went worse for Carapaz, who lost his place on the podium, and the glory of the stage went to the Irishman Eddie Dunbar (Jayco), who took the laurel after getting into the good breakaway. Another maxim of this Vuelta, as there is hardly a breakaway that doesn’t have a reward.
Along the winding and secondary roads of Galicia, which embrace the intense green, moss and surrounding forests full of life and oxygen, and also grassland, a movie was played out that we have already seen. That of the malicious and magnetic game of the escape, also that of the alienations of the stars. It turned out that for almost 70 kilometers there were many cyclists who tried to get a blow, all ignored by different interests. You go out and there I go. You start the hump that I put on. It could be that some did not want to lose the team’s position; others did not want to see their place in the general classification compromised; some ruled out putting their bonus points at risk for any jersey… Or, simply, that if the team Pepito I had someone and the team Menganito No, it was enough to devour their hopes with the strenuous pursuit. But suddenly and magically, the peloton suffered a short circuit. One more. Like the one that allowed O’Connor to unleash chaos in the Vuelta; like the one that allowed Yates to get into the general classification.
It happened that between Puerto de San Xusto and Puerto de Aguasantas a great number of riders – 38 to be exact – set off in a hurry and the AG2R, the team that is supposed to be the judge of the race because it has O’Connor as its leader, gave the go-ahead with its well-known motto of letting things happen. There was no one to worry them, calculator in hand, no one to bother them. So they trotted while the fugitives galloped, because in a few kilometres they had a five-minute lead. With that difference, after a bit of grumbling, the peloton again put on the necessary speed so that the stage would not become complicated, to maintain the distances. Although the worries multiplied, because O’Connor had to change bikes – possibly due to a puncture – while Carapaz hit the ground, a soft bump, but a crash in the end. A twisted day for both.
As the kilometres went by, AG2R was also worried about the pace, as it was not making any more time and ahead of it was New Zealander George Bennett (Israel), 9m 50s behind the gold, accompanied by three other riders from the team. So on the third climb, the second to Agusantas, everyone picked up the pace, a two-way game of chess: Israel, on its side, eager to catch Meurisse, which they managed to do before heading up the last ridge; and the leader’s team, on the other side, determined to close the gap with the escapees. More than anything because the permissiveness in the face of so many escapes, in the face of so many candidates for the fight for the crown, will not allow future carelessness. Either you command or you get eaten.
But Roglic and Mas were in for a treat, with 10 kilometres to go, facing the last mountain pass and delivering the final blow. Up the road, electric pedals, standing on the bike and fierceness at the handlebars, both of them went out like a spring to get away from their shadow and open a gap, to enjoy, already with their tongues hanging out and with the reserve in their lungs, the 37 seconds they cut off the leader together with Landa, Gaudu and Skjelmose, capable of joining the party. The one in which Dunbar acted as master of ceremonies, who started off with 400 metres to go with the escapees to leave them in statues; the one to which O’Connor and Carapaz were not invited. “I expected Roglic to attack me, but I also expected to stay on his wheel. But not everything always works out,” lamented the Australian, focused on the tough stages of the weekend. Although tomorrow, to his dismay, there is a mountain finish, 16 kilometres of suffering.
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