Vuelta a Burgos: Bardet survives crash for solo victory on stage 3

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Romain Bardet (Team DSM) moved into the overall lead at the Vuelta a Burgos after winning stage 3 despite a crash on the descent to the finish in Espinoso de los Monteros.

The Frenchman led alone over the top of the final ascent of Picon Blanco, after catching and passing an earlier attack near the summit. He held a lead of seven seconds over the chasers as he crested the top with 17km to go, and he stretched that lead beyond half a minute on the descent.

Although Bardet’s wheels slipped from under him with a shade over 5km to go, he quickly remounted to win the stage, 39 seconds clear of Domenico Pozzovivo (Qhubeka-NextHash), Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) and Mikel Nieve (Team BikeExchange).

Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Fenix) was fifth at 50 seconds, leading home a reduced group that included Fabio Aru, Aleksandr Vlasov and Egan Bernal after it had been whittled down to its bare bones on the stiff climb of Picon Blanco.

“It was maybe the hardest climb of the week and the team wanted to try something so the guys put in good position at the bottom of climb,” said Bardet. “We came here for a result, and the goal was to win a stage. I felt I could jump and go alone near the top because I knew I was good in downhill. It was a stupid crash because I went too fast in the corner, but I managed to get back up and win the stage.”

Bardet was not the only faller on the fast descent. His fellow countryman Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroën), so impressive on the climb, was part of the chasing group with Landa, Nieve and Pozzovivo, but he slid off the road with 7km to go.

“I tried to take it as fast as possible but there were some wet parts on the road and I just slipped,” Bardet said of his crash. “I’m glad I didn’t break anything and I could keep going.”

Bardet had made a tentative effort on the lower slopes of Picon Blanco but he realised that the prevailing wind would make it difficult for attacks to stick. Simon Carr (EF Education-Nippo) and Fabio Aru (Qhubeka-NextHash) made accelerations that helped to split up the group of favourites after Bahrain Victorious had led early on the climb.

Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) took over later with a long turn on behalf of his teammate Pavel Sivakov, but while the Colombian’s pressing helped to whittle down the group, he also paid a price for his effort and was unable to follow the accelerations nearer the summit.

Early escapees Oier Lazkano (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Oscar Cabedo (Burgos-BH) and Joan Bou (Euskaltel- Euskadi) had led onto Picon Blanco, but they were gradually clawed back as the GC contenders began to test one another on the climb.

Nieve and Bouchard forged clear with 2.5km of the climb remaining before Bardet made his move a kilometre later. The Frenchman succeeded in bridging across, and he then forged clear alone near the summit.

“It was really hard, it was a headwind so I decided to wait until the last minute,” said Bardet, who holds a GC lead of 45 seconds over Landa, 58 seconds over Pozzovivo and one minute over Aru with two stages remaining.

“We will take it day by day,” he said. “Tomorrow is an opportunity for the sprinters and then we’ll see.”

How it unfolded

The early part of stage was animated by a break composed of Oier Lazkano (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Guy Niv (Israel Start-Up Nation), Oscar Cabedo (Burgos-BH) and Joan Bou (Euskaltel- Euskadi), who built a maximum lead of seven minutes before the peloton began to claw them back.

The escapees led over the day’s early climbs, with Lazkano first to the top of the category 3 ascents of the Alto de Barcina, the Alto de Cereceda and the Alto de Retuerta. Lazkano went clear alone on the last of those climbs and he carried a lead of 30 seconds over his erstwhile companions and 3:20 over the peloton as he began the final ascent of Picon Blanco.

That lead began to tumble as the ascent began, with Damiano Caruso riding on behalf of Bahrain Victorious leader Mikel Landa, while Bou and Cabedo also fought their way back up to Lazkano. The escapees’ skirmish was soon superseded by the battle between the GC contenders, with the group of favourites cut to a dozen or so riders after Bernal’s cameo.

The group fragmented when Nieve and Bouchard made their move, with Aru, Pozzovivo and Landa all proving among the strongmen, while Bernal betrayed signs of suffering after his crash earlier in the week.

Bardet, meanwhile, was biding his time, and his move with 1.5km set him up for his first victory in three and a half years and only the eighth of his career. He is also in line to claim only the second stage race win of his career after the 2013 Tour de l’Ain, with Saturday’s finale Lagunas de Neila set to prove decisive.