The second week of the Vuelta a España ended on Sunday with a major battle for the breakaway, and in the breakaway. At the start, Stefan Küng, Clément Braz Afonso, and Thibaud Gruel initially managed to join a leading group of around forty riders. However, they couldn’t catch the right move when the race was decided twenty kilometers from the finish line. Nine riders ultimately fought for the win, with Mads Pedersen taking it. It is now time for a deserved rest day.
A warm-up was certainly required this Sunday morning at the start in Vegadeo. In a fifteenth stage made for the breakaway on the Vuelta, the day’s first sixteen kilometres, uphill and with an average gradient of 5%, suggested a proper fight. “There were only three easy kilometres, then the race clearly got going,” said Frédéric Guesdon. “We had to be very attentive, and we first had Stefan in the first move. There was action for quite a bit on this first climb and it proved hard to make a difference. As we approached the summit, Clément and Thibaud also broke away, and we found ourselves with three riders in a chase group. The junction was made after about thirty kilometers, and we therefore had three men in front. It was ideal!” Among the teams with most numbers, Groupama-FDJ, however, left the lead to others in a breakaway that included no fewer than forty riders. It was even more the case when Jay Vine and Louis Vervaeke broke away after the second climb of the day, 110 kilometres from the finish line.
“We’ll have to target the stages smartly,” Frédéric Guesdon
“Lidl-Trek and Movistar rode hard because the two leaders put on a show, and we had to take them seriously,” Frédéric said. “A small peloton therefore chased the breakaway to bring a sprint, or at least to bring it all back together. The pace was quite high, and we knew it would come down to the legs in the final.” While the peloton completely lost interest in the breakaway, the latter exploded less than 30 kilometres from the finish line, on the last – unclassified – hills of the day. “Given how hard it was at the start, one thing was for sure: the forty-five riders in front were going well,” said Frédéric. “When we got to the last climb, if you had the legs, you could keep up. If not, you’d find yourself behind.” So, when Santiago Buitrago, Egan Bernal, and Mads Pedersen pushed up the pace, the Groupama-FDJ riders couldn’t hold the wheels. “We don’t have any regrets because the legs did the talking,” said Frédéric. “This stage was a goal for me, I did everything I wanted, but towards the end, my left leg was kind of paralyzed,” Thibaud said. “I felt like I was pedalling with one and a half legs. When they attacked, I could no longer follow. I’m disappointed.”
At the front, nine riders competed for victory, which Mads Pedersen snatched. Stefan Küng and Clément Braz Afonso finished in a big chase group, 23 seconds behind. The peloton came to the line about 13 minutes later, while the second rest day is here. “The boys did a solid second week, which was quite difficult to be honest,” Frédéric concluded. “We were active, and Brieuc’s third place is obviously a big positive note. We tackled some challenging terrain, and we can’t forget that we have three riders competing in their first Grand Tour, and we no longer have Guillaume, who was a key rider of ours in these mountain stages. He was mentioned in the breakaway today. It’s nice, Radio Tour hasn’t forgotten him either (smiles). Anyway, the rest day comes at the right time. We’ll look at our possibilities in the last week, but we’ll have to target the stages smartly.”
