Tadej Pogacar goes solo again to win Vuelta a Andalucia stage 1

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Two days after dominating on his season debut at the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) delivered a repeat performance at the opening stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía.

The Slovenian started the five-day stage race as the favourite for overall glory and wasted no time in laying down a marker to his GC rivals, attacking 12.5km from the finish on a twisting steep climb and riding alone to the finish in Santiago de la Espada.

After his UAE Team Emirates teammates had done the hard yards up the final climb, Pogačar jumped from the remains of the lead group just under five kilometres from the top of the first-category Alto de Despiernacaballos. He stormed up the road and quickly shook off hanger-on Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).

20 minutes later he crossed the finish line alone to record his second victory in two race days so far in 2023 and take the first leader’s yellow jersey of the race.

"Today once again the teamwork was great, we did a nice job and our guys led me to the last climb at a very very high pace which I really liked," Pogačar said later.

"The climb was steep; I saw the moment to attack and I enjoyed the road to the finish. I'm a little surprised by my form – I knew that I was good, but I could not expect to have already won two races.

"Concerning the leadership of the general classification of the Vuelta Andalucía, it's going to be really difficult to defend the leader's jersey until the end because there will be some tricky stages, but I will be able to rely on such a strong team that makes me confident I can reach this goal."

38 seconds after Pogačar rolled home, Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) outsprinted Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) and his teammate Buitrago to grab second place, with the Ineos man taking second. 

The second chase rolled in at 1:38 down, led by Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers).

Pogačar now already holds a solid lead after just one day of racing, with only the three men in the chasing group within a minute and a selection of other prospective GC contenders over 1:30 back.

Geoghegan Hart and Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) are in the latter group, as is Enric Mas (Movistar), who was unlucky to drop back from the lead chase group 9km from the line after suffering a mechanical.

How it unfolded

The opening stage of the 2023 Vuelta a Andalucía took the riders on a 179 km ride through the hills of the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park to the northeast of Granada. Along the way, five classified climbs filled the path to a downhill run to the finish in Santiago de la Espada.

Early third-category warm-ups would give prospective breakaway riders a chance to jump from the peloton. The first-category Puerto de Navalperal (8.1km at 6.9% after 84 km), Garganta de Hornos (16.5km at 4.5% after 136km), and the final climb to Despiernacaballas (10.6km at 5.8% after 171 km) provided the main challenges of the stage.

The battle for the breakaway was decided on that first third-category climb, with Alex Martín (Eolo-Kometa), Clément Alleno (Burgos-BH), Aaron Van Poucke (Flanders-Baloise), and Gotzon Martín (Euskaltel-Euskadi) making it out front.

The quartet weren’t allowed much leeway after going up the road, however, with the peloton holding their advantage at around the 2:40 mark as they raced over the next third-category climb and the unclassified hills on the way to the middle of the stage. Back in the peloton, it was UAE Team Emirates (for Pogačar) and Movistar (for Mas) working at the front to limit the gap.

The two Martíns – no relation – shared four points with Alleno over the first two climbs of the day before Gotzon Martín soared into the virtual KOM lead on the Navalperal, 10 points there putting him two up on Alex Martín.

Following that first of three first-category climbs, the gap back to the peloton hung at around two minutes, with the situation stable and the race quiet as UAE and Movistar continued to control.

In the breakaway, Van Poucke had an eventful time on the run to the Garganta de Hornos, crashing at 60km to go, getting back to win the intermediate sprint, and then dropping from the group on the climb itself with Alleno having already dropped back.

The two Martíns were then joined on the climb by Omar Fraile (Ineos Grenadiers), who had jumped out of the peloton, while Gotzon Martín once again took the points over the top to extend his KOM total to 24, six up on Alex Martín.

Heading onto the descent and the final 30km, the break lay just 30 seconds up on the peloton, though Alex Martín would be the next to drop five kilometres later. By the bottom of the descent, the adventure was over for Gotzon Martín and Fraile, too.

As they had for much of the day, UAE and Movistar lead the way onto the final climb of Alto de Despiernacaballos with the former taking full the lead into the final 20km with Tim Wellens, Rafał Majka and George Bennett all working for Pogačar.

The work put in by the team had slimmed the front group down to around 15 riders at halfway mark of the 10km climb. With four kilometres to climb and 12.5km to race, the UAE train had done their work and Pogačar decided to land the first blow among the GC men.

Buitrago was the only rider able to go after and across to the Slovenian and only for 500 metres before letting go. Everyone else was quickly distanced and cast across the hillside. Pogačar had taken flight yet again.

Buitrago quickly formed a strong chase quartet with teammate Landa as well as Rodríguez and Mas. That wouldn’t last, however, with the Movistar leader forced to stop due to an untimely mechanical a kilometre from the top of the climb.

Nevertheless, the trio ploughed onwards, even if Pogačar had opened up a 40-second lead by that point.

His lead remained stable on the way down into the town, with Pogačar taking no big risks while descending and the chasers sticking together.

After his showcase solo ride in Baeza on Monday, Pogačar once again had no equals in Andalucía and rode into Santiago de la Espada alone yet again.

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