Two weeks after the last bunch finish in the Vuelta, the sprinters were finally back on the scene this Friday in Guijuelo, on stage 19. Thibaud Gruel took the opportunity to show his speed in a slight uphill finish, where he claimed his second top-10 finish of the race. Ninth, the Frenchman will have another chance in Madrid on Sunday, while the final mountain stage is coming tomorrow, towards Bola del Mundo.
30,000 metres of climbing and five summit finishes later, the Vuelta peloton was back on sprint-friendly terrain this Friday, on stage 19, between Rueda and Guijuelo. Despite a profile not being completely flat, the fast men weren’t about to let one of their rare chances slip away, and the fight for the breakaway was, unusually, quite short. Two men took the lead as soon as the flag dropped, and only one ultimately remained in front to lead the way: Jakub Otruba. The Czech rider got a maximal gap of four minutes over the peloton but was brought back to just one minute at the intermediate sprint in Salamanca, about sixty kilometres from the finish. “Everyone was a little afraid of the wind, especially after Salamanca,” explained Frédéric. “There was a bit of wind before, we went through the town, and then it was gone. There were a few small attempts of echelons, but it didn’t make a difference. There was a lot of tension, but eventually, nothing much to report.”
“I was hoping for a bit more,” Thibaud Gruel
The peloton’s accelerations, however, meant in the end of the adventure for the fugitive, who was caught more than fifty kilometres from the finish, before a duo from Burgos Burpellet BH quickly relaunched from the pack. However, this group was neutralized about twenty minutes later, and then the fight for positioning gradually took place. With just over ten kilometres to go, the Groupama-FDJ team also emerged at the front of the peloton. “The goal was to sprint with Thibaud today,” Frédéric explained. The young man was brought by Rémi Cavagna and Stefan Küng up until the last seven kilometres, just before a crucial downhill. After tackling it in the top ten positions, the young puncher also finished it with good positioning, and from then on, he tried hard to stay in the upper part of the bunch. “The sprint’s approach was a bit technical, but the last two kilometres were on a nice road,” said Frédéric. “It was a beautiful finish, slightly uphill, and I liked it,” added Thibaud. On his own, he was however unable to contain the comebacks from behind in the final few hundred metres, and therefore found himself slightly in the back in the last 500 metres.
After a long sprint and a strong finish, he was still able to secure ninth place while Jasper Philipsen claimed another victory. “I was a bit on my limit, to be honest,” said Thibaud. “I fought to do the best I could, but my legs weren’t the best. I was hoping for a bit more on a finish like this. That being said, it was a tough final, and the legs did the talking.” “To get another top-10 finish while not feeling super, is still not bad, especially at the end of the third week in your first Grand Tour,” Frédéric added. “It’s still a positive day.” Two stages remain on the menu on this Vuelta: a probable sprint in Madrid on Sunday, and a summit finish at Bola del Mundo tomorrow. “As we’ve been doing since the beginning, we’ll try to get a head start on the favorites by joining the breakaway, then we’ll see,” Frédéric added.
