Vuelta, Vingegaard wins on the Tourmalet, then Kuss and Roglic: perfect trio for Jumbo!

The queen stage of the Vuelta crowns Jonas Vingegaard, who breathes the air of the Tour de France at the 2115 meters of the Tourmalet and achieves one of the most prestigious victories of his career, and cycling experiences one of the craziest days with the total domination of the Dutch team Jumbo-Visma : first three at the finish line and in the standings.

The 26-year-old Dane, twice king of the Grande Boucle, leaves 7 km from the finish line and finds no rivals in the Pyrenean climb from the Bareges side. Behind him come the red jersey Sepp Kuss at 30″ and Primoz Roglic at 33″; first, second and third of Jumbo-Visma at the summit of one of the most iconic peaks in world cycling, something never seen in cycling in a major stage race. Fourth were Ayuso and Ujitdebroeks at 38″, Mas at 40″, Landa at 1’15”, Vlasov at 2’12” and Soler at 3’08”. The dominance of Jumbo-Visma in the standings has also never been seen, with the three riders in the first three places: Kuss strengthens the red jersey of leader and precedes Roglic by 1’37” and Vingegaard by 1’44”. How can we oust them from the final podium in Madrid? Ayuso fourth at 2’37”, then Mas at 3’06 “, Soler at 3’10”, Landa at 4’12”, Vlasov at 5’02”, Ujitdebroeks at 5’30” and Almeida at 8’39”.

But if Jonas enjoys it and the Jumbo-Visma toasts, the day in France definitively rejects Remco Evenepoel, who had focused heavily on the Vuelta after withdrawing from the Giro due to Covid. The Flemish arrives at 27’05”, surrounded by the gregarious Cattaneo, Hirt and Knox, while Kuss is celebrating on the podium, and now he will have to understand how to deal with the topic of the grand tours: this season he has failed both in the Giro d’Italia and in the Vuelta, his in 2022, while in the one-day races he did an encore at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and wore the rainbow time trial jersey.

Domain A day in which Jumbo-Visma once again demonstrates total superiority. The Dutch team does what it wants, first with historic gregarious men like Kelderman and Gesink, then with the Roubaix winner Van Baarle, and in the end with the big names Vingegaard, Roglic and Kuss, capable of imparting accelerations that bring their opponents to their knees. Rivals silenced, and supporting actors. And on the Tourmalet even Vingegaard, twice king of the Tour, makes himself available to Kuss and Roglic and gives the final skimming to the group of the best, before making his personal push.

Objective At this point the Grand Slam, that is, winning the three grand tours in the same season, almost seems like a formality. Roglic won the Giro d’Italia by beating Thomas and Vingegaard did an encore in the Tour de France ahead of Pogacar: now with seven stages to go in the Vuelta, it will still be the turn of one of them. No team has ever achieved this, not even the Sky team from the golden years of Wiggins and Froome.

Remco ko It was supposed to be the day of the duel with Roglic, but instead the Flemish Evenepoel passed away 89 km from the finish line at 3200 meters from the summit of Aubisque, one of the historic peaks of the Pyrenees. Surrounded by four domestiques, he breaks away under the pace of Kelderman and Gesink. At the summit he passes 1’20” behind the group of the red Kuss jersey, and then finally collapses on the Col de Spandelles when Vingegaard and Landa attack: at the top he passes almost 6′ behind. Among the big names in the rankings, Almeida and the young Lenny Martinez also immediately jump out, but then practically all the others, unable to resist the forcing of Jumbo-Visma: the Spaniard Ayuso, fourth, is at 2’37”.

Pyrenees again The Vuelta continues tomorrow with the fourteenth stage, Sauveterre de Bearn-Larra Belagua, 156 km, the second and final Pyrenean day. There are 4623 meters of altitude difference with the tough Puerto de Larrau 50 km from the finish line: it is a climb of 15.1 km at an average of 7.8% and a very severe section with an average gradient of 14.4% and peaks of 17 %. The Spanish race will end on Sunday 17th in Madrid.