La Vuelta arrived at Tourmalet full of doubts and left the temple of the Pyrenees with three riders from the same team in the first three places in the stage and overall. The Spanish round only has one team, Jumbo, where the biggest doubts that now arise is whether they are going to function as a squad or as a kind of anarchic bloc between three cyclists who want to win the race; Jonas Vingegaard, winner of the Tourmalet, Sepp Kussthe surprising leader of the test and Primoz Roglicwho was supposedly chosen to be the boss upon leaving Barcelona.
The Jumbo lost this Friday the opponent they feared the most, the only one who scared them, a Remco Evenepoel who surprisingly sank in the Aubisque without the Dutch team having the need to move the Vuelta tree to see if there was any rival as ripe as the fruit. Without the Belgian figure, who arrived at 27.05 minutes and raised all the alarms about whether he really is a three-week runner or a star for classics and races of a few days, the Jumbo found a highway, first in Aubisque itself, then in Spandelles and finally in the Tourmalet that was conquered by the double winner of the Tour.
🏔 A battle for eternity on the roads of the historic Col du Tourmalet that ends in an exhibition. 🐝. See the final KM again.
🏔 A battle for the ages on the slopes of the historic Col du Tourmalet ending in domination. 🐝. Watch the final KM back.#LaVuelta23 pic.twitter.com/wfmWRzlZJj
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 8, 2023
Never in the entire history of cycling has the same team placed three runners on the final podium of a three-week race; to two, yes, several times, but three, which would happen if the overall result of the Tourmalet is maintained, which could happen, would be a novelty that is not good news for cycling either. Vingegaard won the great Pyrenean summit after attacking 8 kilometers from the finish line and going solo to victory, a success that placed him third overall. Kuss he demarcated less than 2 kilometers to finish in second position and with the feeling that he will not be a circumstantial leader of the Vuelta, but a serious contender for victory in Madrid. AND Roglic? Well, the Slovenian rider finished third, he placed second overall and if he wants to win the Spanish round, he still has to fight for the trophy with two teammates.
The two Spaniards
Juan Ayuso and Enric Maswhich gave him courage, but he realized that he could not with any of the rivals of the Jumbo, they were the only two Spaniards who traveled near the Jumbo, the day that Marc Soler collapsed. Ayuso He always looked for a comfortable pace to climb the Tourmalet, in a stage in which his Portuguese teammate fainted, ill. Joao Almeida. They have placed themselves in fourth and fifth place in the classification before the appointment this Saturday through the mountains of Navarra and with Larrau as the main obstacle of the day.
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The road to the Tourmalet was a route of attrition, but without attacks, except for a few sparks from Mikel Landa in the Aubisque. Nobody moved until he did. Vingegaard, with his Jumbo teammates activating from behind. Surely the panorama seen in the stage would not have been to the liking of Federico Bahamontes, who was honored on the podium of his mountain, with the presence of Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour. There was not a brilliant stage, too many Jumbos ahead. “It was frustrating because no matter where you looked there was always a yellow cyclist next to you,” he lamented. Ayuso in reference to the uniform of the Dutch team. They dominate and the others watch.