Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) was happy to cede the red jersey to the breakaway on stage 6 of the Vuelta a España, allowing a 10-man group to build a large gap on the road to Pal, with Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victorious) taking over the lead by 2:33.
Visma made their intentions clear throughout the 170km, and with just 35km to go and approaching the Andorran border, the gap for the 10 in front had ballooned out to more than six minutes.
Træen and Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) always looked the most likely for red, having started the day 58 seconds and 1:02 behind, but despite Visma's respect for the pair, they were unfazed by their new deficit at the finish.
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"I think it was good, we managed the start well to not let any too dangerous guys get in the break. We were really happy to give the jersey away," said Matteo Jorgenson at the finish.
"We wanted to keep it to around five minutes. I have a lot of respect for Torstein and Bruno Armirail, but I think we have it under control as far as the GC. It will be for sure difficult to take back that time, but this whole race will be difficult."
Vingegaard's teammates controlled the front for much of the stage, but the pace wasn't one to try and bring back those in front, as shown by solo winner Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) holding a lead of 4:19 to the line, even despite action kicking off in the GC group.
That action wasn't sparked by the Visma riders, though, with Vingegaard maintaining a largely defensive battle plan up the final climb to Pal. It was Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) who lit things up, after Lidl-Trek had taken over the pacing to ensure Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) lost maximum time after dropping.
Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss were made to work hard in the chase as Vingegaard marked subsequent moves on his own, but the Dane was more than up to the challenge, and by the time the line arrived, he'd successfully covered Ciccone and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and the group of favourites arrived together.
"On the final climb, it was tricky with Trek coming up to pace when Ayuso was dropping, and from there it was just about keeping it under control for Jonas and so that none of the GC guys could attack," said Jorgenson.
"It was some hard moments for Sepp and me, but all that ends well is well, that's the saying," he added with a smile.
Vingegaard, despite losing red, was also satisfied as he spoke to Danish media at the team bus further down the climb, with long red jersey media duties no longer his, no time lost to any of his real rivals, and UAE perhaps losing their greatest strength – having co-leaders – as Ayuso lost 7:32 to the GC riders.
"Before today, UAE had two captains, and now one has lost eight minutes, I think. So that was good for us," Vingegaard told TV2 Denmark.
"I think the stage was OK. It was a bit difficult to beat the competitors today. We tried, and then of course we lost the leader's jersey, but we didn't ride to keep it, so it's fine for us.
"I actually think I was riding OK. We've always said that we think I'll get better during the Vuelta. The legs were good, and we can look forward to the last 15 stages."
With more mountains arriving tomorrow from Andorra la Vella to Cerler, it's very possible Vingegaard could move back into red, again, in rapid fashion, with only Træen, Armirail, Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana), Louis Vervaerke (Soudal-QuickStep) and 2:33 in his way.
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