For the twentieth stage, and final fight in the mountains, the Vuelta a España peloton experienced a relentless day on Saturday heading towards the summit of the Bola del Mundo. While Stefan Küng, Clément Braz Afonso, and Rudy Molard all managed to join the breakaway, they never got a chance to make it. Jonas Vingegaard ultimately secured his overall victory with another stage win, and Rudy Molard crossed the finish line in twenty-sixth place, about six minutes later. The race will conclude tomorrow in Madrid.
One last summit, and surely not the easiest, was to be reached on Saturday for the riders still in contention in the Vuelta a España. In a twentieth stage tallying 165 kilometres, it was necessary to get to the famous but little-used “Bola del Mundo”, in continuation of the Puerto de Navacerrada, 2,200 meters above sea level, and after a final three-kilometre section averaging 12%. The menu did not look appealing for everyone, especially since four other classified climbs – including another side of the Puerto de Navacerrada – featured on the course. It was actually in the first two climbs of the day that around thirty riders escaped. “It went quite early, and we had three guys in front with Stefan, Rudy and Clément, but UAE Team Emirates had decided to push hard from start to finish today, and that made for a very fast and quite crazy day,” stated Frédéric Guesdon. Despite the presence of strong riders and teams at the front, the breakaway never managed to get a proper gap, as Rudy Molard, astonished by the day’s scenario, testified: “We expected it to be a fast race, but maybe not that fast. UAE was really strong, because we were riding really fast up front and they managed to keep us at 1’30. I thought they were going to give up at some point, but they didn’t. We never eased off.”
« We gave it our all, we rode flat out until the end, even after being caught by the favorites », Rudy Molard
Both at the front and at the back, a proper race of attrition took place throughout the stage, with the gap barely evolving. With 55 kilometres to go, the breakaway approached the first ascent of the Puerto de Navacerrada, at the summit of which only Clément Braz Afonso was still among a group of a dozen men at the front. The young Frenchman was, however, caught by a small peloton in the following valley, got back alongside Rudy Molard, and the final fight towards the Bola del Mundo, over 12.3 kilometres of climbing at 8.6%, started. In the general classification, these final ramps of the Vuelta did not cause any major changes, and Jonas Vingegaard took the victory in addition to having secured his red jersey on the eve of the final day. Rudy Molard came at the finish line about six minutes later, in a decent 26th place. “We gave it our all, we rode flat out until the end, even after being caught by the favorites,” said the experienced Frenchman. “It was really a hard day. We were still represented at the front with three guys, and we can be happy with our stage.” “We fought with our own strengths,” said Frédéric. “Entering the breakaways allowed us to achieve results in this Vuelta. We went for it again today, but UAE decided otherwise. We tried, and there are no regrets.”
On Sunday, the peloton will head to Madrid, where a city circuit is expected to lead to a final bunch sprint.
