Jonas Vingegaard and Tom Pidcock took time on their general classification rivals as stage 11 of the Vuelta a España ended with no stage winner.
The pair escaped on the final climb of the day, the Alto de Pike, with Q36.5 Pro Cycling’s Pidcock briefly dropping Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike. They then descended to an improvised finish with 3km to go, appearing to take around 10 seconds on other riders.
Pidcock took the bonus seconds atop the Pike, too, to gain time on everyone else in the race, including Vingegaard and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
How it happened
With seven classified climbs on stage 11, including one within the first 10km, it was set to be a day of breakneck speed racing around the Basque Country.
The neutralised start was briefly held up by a pro-Palestine protest, before the riders got away.
There were almost immediate attacks from Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), setting the tone for the day.
The first KoM point, the Alto de Laukiz, was crossed first by Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), followed by Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Guillermo Thomas Silva (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).
There were seemingly endless attacks over the next 30km, but the Visma-Lease a Bike controlled peloton, riding for red jersey Jonas Vingegaard, remained in control.
The first significant break came with 133km to go, with Pedersen joined by Orluis Aular (Movistar) and Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
Pedersen won the sprint atop the Alto de Sollube, but the attacks from the peloton did not end there, with Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Lukas Nerurkar (EF Education-EasyPost) among those attempting to escape, although this was shut down.
The leading trio – Pedersen, Soler and Aular – were not allowed much leeway by the peloton. On the Balcón de Bizkaia, Soler took the points.
With 79km to go, Pedersen and Aular were caught, with Soler going alone. On the Alto de Morga, Soler again claimed the points, followed by Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step) and Nicolau.
The attacks didn’t end, although Soler was caught. Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) were away with 52km to go, with Landa taking the points on the Alto de Vivero.
Landa and Buitrago were still away as they crossed the finish line for the first time, followed by a chasing group which once again contained Pedersen. The latter achieved his goal of taking points in the intermediate sprint, despite his effort being disrupted by a protest.
Landa was then dropped, appearing to be in pain. Buitrago was still away on the penultimate climb, the Alto del Vivero, as attacks started coming from the group of favourites. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) led as the race passed Buitrago, with Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) also putting in a dig.
As the race passed the top of the Vivero, what was left of the peloton was a group of general classification favourites, including Vingegaard, Almeida, Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Pellizzari and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe). Vingegaard was aided by Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike).
The group swelled again at the bottom of the descent, before it was announced that there would be no stage winner due to protests at the finish. GC times would be taken with 3km to go.
However, the race appeared to be back on on the final climb of the Alto de Pike, with riders pushing on. Pidcock attacked with 8.4km to go, followed by Vingegaard and Hindley. The 26-year-old managed to drop Vingegaard briefly, as the pair rode away. As the climb reached 16%, Pidcock kept digging in, and put distance into Vingegaard, and sailed towards the six bonus seconds at the top. Four seconds went to Vingegaard, with two for Almeida.
On the descent, Pidcock and Vingegaard worked together, followed by Almeida, Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Hindley. While there would be no stage winner, the pair could still take time on their rivals, around 10 seconds in the end.
