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Race Situation
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Movistar have brought the front peloton back, which does appear it did contain Roglič. That's an early scare for Enric Mas, but one he has managed to see off.
Up ahead, the chase group instigated by Uno-X have caught Van Aert and Oliveira, and lead the reunified peloton by 18 seconds.
The wind has caused a split in the peloton - and Mas has been caught out! Multiple Movistar teammates have dropped back to help pace him, but it's unclear for now whether he is in the same split as his GC rivals, or if they are in the group ahead.
170KM TO GO
Adding to the complications of the day, there's also a bit of wind on the exposed section the peloton is riding through, and a group of about a dozen riders have used it to help et a gap on the peloton. Uno-X Mobility were the chief instigators, putting three men in the group.
While the battle for the break continues, Carlos Rodríguez has had to drop back to his team car to get a radio issue sorted out. This isn't the kind of day you want to be without radio communication for, as it's likely to be very chaotic.
That is indeed the case now, and multiple riders try to join Van Aert and Oliveira at the front of the race.
All of the attacks from behind Van Aert and Oliveira have been neutralised, but the leading duo press on.
Does Van Aert have his eye on the King of the Mountains jersey? He's 38 points behind Santiago Buitrago after the Colombian's ride in the breakaway yesterday - but there are a total of 53 points to be won today.
OFFICIAL START
And they're off! And its Wout van Aert who is among the first to kick things off, going on the attack with UAE's Oliveira. The pair have a gap of about ten seconds over the peloton, where more are trying moves.
The riders are in the neutralised zone, and will be racing the Queen Stage soon. The first 40km are about as flat as this stage gets, and even they take place on rolling terrain. It’ll be a massive fight to get into the break, and only riders still feeling (relatively) strong after three weeks of racing will be able to get into it.
Today features more climbing than any other stage of this race by some distance. But as one merciful relief for the riders comes in the temperature, which is cooler than it was earlier in the race, in the early twenties rather than the thirties.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Yesterday didn’t quite produce fireworks in the GC race, with attacks not coming until the final few kilometres, and everyone in the top five finishing at the top of the summit finish together. But today there surely will be, given the severity of the parcours, and the fact this is the last chance at this Vuelta before the final circuit stage in Granada.
Enric Mas might not have looked troubled throughout his whole time in the red jersey so far, but he hasn’t had to face anything like this all race. It’s a monstrous stage, with five mountains in total, three of them rated category one, and the last rated Hors category as the toughest of them all. It’s a hard enough stage to turn this Vuelta on its head, even at this late stage of the race. Anything could happen.
