Stage 13 of the Vuelta a España, with its short but multi-mountain road to the summit of the Col du Tourmalet, was always expected to be a crucial day for the overall contenders but nobody expected such drama and dominance.
It was an incredible day of racing and Chris Auld was there for Cyclingnews to capture the day’s action. This special feature is a selection of his images from a race changing day in the Pyrenees.
It was surprising enough to see João Almeida struggle with 90km still to go and shocking to see defending champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) soon suffer the same fate.
Then on the final slopes of the Col du Tourmalet, Jumbo-Visma played cat and mouse with their rivals. Jonas Vingegaard won the stage and Sepp Kuss and Primož Roglič finished second and third to also fill the top three places on the GC.
After fighting for survival with his Soudal-QuickStep teammates, Evenepoel crossed the line more than 27:05 behind what could only now be described as his former GC rivals..
There was no illness, no crash but just an undeniable crushing reality that "the tank was just empty" said Evenepoel after the stage on social media.
Jumbo-Visma unequivocally made the Vuelta their race to lose.
Vingegaard is third, with nearly one minute to his nearest rival, Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates). Roglič moved up to second overall, while Kuss, who has looked less and less the domestique every day he has spent in red, extended his lead to 1:37 on Roglič.
The only question that appears to remain is who will go on to win the Vuelta.
The slopes of the Pyrenees were lined with cars as a second Grand Tour was on its way to the Col du Tourmalet in 2023
The anticipation was building as the crowds gathered
The roads were lined, with a pivotal GC stage almost an inevitability given the stage was traversing the Col d'Aubisque, Col de Spandelles and finally, the Col du Tourmalet
The lofty heights have been home to many a Grand Tour battle, just usually in July
This one didn't wait to the Col du Tourmalet to unfold, with Jumbo-Visma emerging as the dominant force early
There were plenty of riders passing by before the figure of defending champion Remco Evenepoel emerged
Tucked in with his teammates and wearing white, this wasn't where he'd expected to be
But Jonas Vingegaard was exactly where he'd been hoping to find himself, relishing the long climb of the Tourmalet at the front of the field
Dylan van Baarle could now settle in and let his trio of team leaders finish it off
While the non climbing specialists rolled in and braced for the mountains to come
Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) on the slopes of the Tourmalet
Jonas Vingegaard on his way to the line, to take victory on his daughter's birthday
Behind it was Sepp Kuss in red, who stretched his leading margin in the overall to all except his teammate Vingegaard, who after stage 13 was in third
That, however, was not the end of the Jumbo-Visma show of force
Primož Roglič leapt out of the lead group to take third and move into second place overall
Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) came over the line in seventh, after Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), Cian Uijtderbroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Enric Mas (Movistar)
Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) fought hard to limit his losses
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) tried to claw his way back to the leaders but finished 6:47 behind Vingegaard
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) in 42nd has long left his GC hopes behind, after a tough start to the Vuelta
Teammate Egan Bernal led a group through just a little furher back
Fans of Evenepoel had a long wait as while they may have expected to see the Belgian among the top group, it was 60th place for him, coming over the line just after the group led by Bernal
