Vuelta a Espana: Gesink wins stage 14 atop Col d'Aubisque

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Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) took the first Grand Tour stage win of his career on the queen stage of the Vuelta a España, with Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Chris Froome (Team Sky) once again going head-to-head just below on the Col d’Aubsique summit finish.

Gesink was part of an unusually-large 40-rider breakaway that formed ahead of the first of the four big climbs across the French border and forced Team Sky into a day-long chase as Movistar had Dani Moreno, 5:38 down overall, in the move.

The Dutchman had missed a six-man move that formed ahead of the final climb, but produced a strong ride to make his way across, before making his bid for freedom. The race situation chopped and changed but Gesink found himself with Kenny Elissonde and Egor Silin for company in the final couple of kilometres, and he managed to hold them off in the final uphill dash as the grimaces made way for elation.

In terms of the general classification, this Vuelta was already threatening to be a two-way contest between Quintana and Froome, and the pair once again locked horns as proceedings came to the boil on the Aubisque. Quintana attacked countless times, and while Contador and others were distanced, he could not shake Froome from his wheel.

Aside from Gesink, perhaps the ride of the day belonged to Simon Yates, who moved up into fourth overall thanks to a creative and bold piece of racing. The 24-year-old, who himself claimed his first Grand Tour stage win earlier in the race on stage 6, made his move on the penultimate climb of the day, the Col de Marie-Blanque, before linking up with teammates who had dropped back from the break. Once alone on the final climb, he made his way past a host of breakaway remnants and eventually finished 5th at 39 seconds to jump above Contador, Konig, and Valverde, who was dropped early on the Aubsique and fell out of the top 10.

Quintana still leads the Vuelta from Froome by 54 seconds – one mountain stage down and one step closer to the all-important time trial – while Esteban Chaves managed to skip clear of the sparring duo to haul himself up into third at two minutes, with Yates a further 16 seconds back. Konig is fifth at 2:38, while Contador, who did attack on the Aubisque, lost 20 seconds and is now 3:28 off the lead, his hopes growing fainter by the day.

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How it happened

With so many riders keen to get into the break, from stage-win hopefuls to air-time hunters, mountains classification points seekers, and strategically-placed GC teammates, it was a frantic start to the day as the peloton set out from Urdax and over the French border.

When a move did stick, after 25km, it contained a good 40 riders, and was interesting from a tactical perspective as Movistar managed to get three men in there, including Dani Moreno, who started the day 12th overall. With Sky only able to put David Lopez in there, they had to spend most of the day on the front of the peloton and, though it was more of an exercise in control rather than a chase, Movistar were gladly able to sit in, despite the red jersey being on the shoulders of their man Quintana.

The full list of breakaway riders were Ruben Fernandez, Dani Moreno and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), Deniele Bennati (Tinkoff), David Lopez (Team Sky), Tejay Van Garderen (BMC), George Bennett, Victor Campenaerts and Robert Gesink (Lotto NL Jumbo), Simon Gerrans, Jens Keukeleire and Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica - BikeExchange), Dario Cataldo (Astana), Kenny Elissonde, Odd Christian Eiking and Alexandre Geniez (FDJ), Haimar Zubeldia and Julien Bernard (Trek - Segafredo), Jan Bakelants and Quentin Jauregui (AG2R - La Mondiale), Alberto Losada and Egor Silin (Katusha), Bart De Clercq and Sander Armée (Lotto Soudal), Gianni Meersman (Etixx - Quick Step), Moreno Moser, Pierre Rolland and Davide Villella (Cannondale - Drapac), Omar Fraile and Jacques Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data), Mathias Frank and Larry Warbasse (IAM Cycling), Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre - Merida), Romain Hardy and Rudy Molard (Cofidis), Christoph Pfingsten (Bora-Argon 18), Pello Bilbao and Sergio Pardilla (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Lilian Calmejane, Romain Sicard and Pierrig Quemeneur (Direct Energie).

The breakaway gained around four minutes, and the situation would stay the same for much of the day, as Omar Fraile (Dimenson Data) led over the top of the picturesque Col Inharpu and the 24km Col du Soudet – both first-category ascents – but Elissonde now leads the polka-dot jersey with 49 points.

Orica’s masterplan

Orica-BikeExchange had three men in the breakaway and it was towards the top of the Col du Soudet that it became apparent they were planning something. Gerrans, Keukeleire, and Cort started to control the tempo, before proceeding to hammer it on the descent and then the flat in the valley.

Once onto the penultimate climb of the day, Jack Haig skipped off the front of the bunch, and Yates soon made his move to bridge over. The duo gained a good 30 seconds before Haig made way and Yates continued alone. Just as the Briton, who served a ban relating to an asthma drug and a TUE mishap earlier this year, crested the Col de Marie-Blanque, he could see Gerrans and Cort over the brow of the hill. Safely in the slipstream, Yates pushed out his advantage over the GC group to over a minute, and there were soon four Orica riders as they reached Keukeleire on the flat.

Yates was deposited at the foot of the final climb with an advantage of 1:30, and he produced a really strong ride to maintain that advantage most of the way up.

He caught and passed numerous breakaway remnants and was only 39 seconds behind stage winner Gesink by the time he hit the line. By that point, Quintana’s attacks had reduced his advantage over the red jersey to a minute, but he was able to leapfrog both Contador and Valverde.

With Chaves third overall and Yates fourth, Orica are in a really strong position, and have the chance to get creative with their tactics once again in the stages to come.

Stage honours

Some breakaway riders began to lose contact on the Col du Soudet, and in the valley on the approach to the Marie-Blanque, but it wasn’t until the next valley – between the Marie-Blanque and the Aubsique, that things started to really shake-up, with the possibility of the stage win coming into focus.

A key move was made when six riders - Bakelants, Bennett Elissonde, Silin, Bernard, and De Clercq attacked towards the end of the descent, and carried a lead of around 30 seconds towards the foot of the Aubisque.

Eilssonde was the first to attack on the climb, and De Clercq and Bernard were soon distanced. Back in the 15-rider chase group, Gesink sensed the gap going out and made his move. He was initially tracked by Moreno, Lopez, and Pardilla, but soon kicked again and freed himself. He flew past Bernard and De Clercq and no sooner had he linked up with the leading quartet than he was off on the attack again.

Only Bakelants could follow initially, but the Belgian lost ground in the final five kilometres, while Elissonde found a second wind and bridged to Gesink. Going into the final kilometre, Gesink also had Silin for company, but confidently opened the sprint, got a gap, and held it to the line. Elissonde looked to have been dropped in the sprint but managed to come back past a rapidly-fading Silin.

GC fireworks

Nairo Quintana is well aware that 54 seconds is a precariously slim advantage over Chris Froome when a 37km time trial is on the horizon, and the Colombian went on the offensive today with a string of attacks.

The first one, halfway up the Aubisque, was just a tester, but the second created a true selection from the already-depleted peloton. Konig helped Froome begin to shut it down but soon it was just the old foes alone with Contador and Chaves. The Orica rider looked to be in trouble but soon attacked and stormed up the upper slopes to gain around half a minute.

Contador had no such luck. He went clear with a promising attack of his own, but paid for his efforts and was swiftly dropped, his race becoming an exercise in damage limitation.

Quintana repeatedly looked to shake Froome from his wheel, with earlier attacker Samuel Sanchez doing his best to cling on, but while he has gained time on Froome on more than one occasion so far in the race, this time he was unable to make the difference as the Sky rider dealt with the accelerations with increasing ease. The race leader tried one final push in the final 100 metres but Froome was alive to it, and they crossed the line with nothing separating them.

It was another display of dramatic racing and another chapter in the rivalry between the pair, who have emerged as the two clear contenders in this Vuelta.

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