Vuelta a España: Michael Storer wins stage 7 at summit of Balcón de Alicante

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Michael Storer (Team DSM) claimed victory on stage 7 of the Vuelta a España, triumphing alone from the breakaway after an all-action display on the first mountain stage of the race. 

The 24-year-old Australian was aggressive from the first of six categorised climbs, which saw the race explode inside 15 kilometres, and went on to ride clear on the steep final climb of the Balcón de Alicante. 

Carlos Verona (Movistar) crossed the line for second place at 22 seconds, having launched his own attacks on the final climb, the second of which was quickly countered by Storer 4km from the top. Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers), who had gone clear with Storer ahead of the penultimate climb, trailed home for third place at one minute. 

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) and Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) were also part of the 29-man breakaway that eventually took shape after around 50km, and placed fourth and fifth to leap into the top-10 overall.

Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) weathered a potentially tricky and chaotic stage to keep his direct rivals close at hand and keep hold of the red jersey. Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) accelerated most of the way up the steep narrow roads of the second half of the category-1 final climb, and Roglič closely marked it as the favourites’ group thinned to contain just those two, Yates’ teammate Egan Bernal, the Movistar duo of Enric Mas and Miguel Angel Lopez, David De la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates), and Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert). 

Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-PremierTech) lost contact towards the top and crossed the line 13 seconds down, while Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), and Richard Carapaz (Ineos) all conceded half a minute.

There had already been significant GC developments after Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) both abandoned earlier in the stage. Carthy, who had struggled on the previous afternoon, climbed off around the half-way mark, while Valverde, who started the day as one of three Movistar riders in the top four, crashed heavily when attacking on the Puerto El Collao with some 40km remaining. 

Roglič retained the red jersey but it was in the balance all day, as not only Kuss and Haig were in the break, but Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), who’d started the day in the top 15. Grossschartner placed seventh on the stage - 1:32 down on Storer and 2:01 up on Roglic - to jump to from 15th to 2nd overall at eight seconds, while Polanc moved from 12th to 5th. 

The day, however, belonged to Storer, and the victory was a reflection of his own strength and the way DSM took the race on. They lost their GC hopes to a Romain Bardet crash two days previously but responded by putting three riders into the initial six-man break, and then two more when it swelled to 29 ahead of the second climb. 

After multiple DSM accelerations on the fourth climb of the Puerto El Collao, Storer slipped clear with Sivakov on the descent, joining up with lone leader Lawson Craddock (EF Education-Nippo). Sivakov dropped his chain during an attack on the penultimate climb of Puerto de Tibi and had some stern words for Storer when he clambered his way back across. As discussions continued onto the final climb of Balcón de Alicante (8.4km at 6.2 per cent), they were joined by Verona and Andreas Kron (Lotto Soul). Verona looked to shake things up with two big attacks and when Storer responded to the second, he saw he was dropping Sivakov, and he piled on the pressure to ride clear of Verona. 

He opened up 20 seconds and managed to keep his gear turning on the double-digit gradients of the upper slopes to celebrate the biggest win of his young career.

How it unfolded

With the first of the day’s six climbs, the category-1 Puerto la Llacuna (9.4km at 6.2 per cent), starting after just 7km, it was always likely to be a frantic start, and so it proved. 

The first attack once again came from Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH) and kilometre-zero, and he managed to draw a group of six riders clear, but UAE Team Emirates chased them down by the foot of the climb. On the ascent itself, which packed several super-steep ramps, the peloton exploded, with riders soon scattered in groups all over the road. 

Former leaders Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) and Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) both went on the attack, with Team DSM particularly aggressive. So were EF Education-Nippo, although their leader Hugh Carthy was quickly dropped and seemingly struggling after his time losses on the previous stage.

A huge group managed to slip away on the upper slopes, with Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious), Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers), Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Jay Vine (Alpecin-Fenix), and Ion Izagirre (Astana-Premier Tech) leading the race over the summit of the Llacuna. 

There were tense moments as Roglič found himself in a GC group that only contained around 30 riders, although his teammates helped reduced the gap and the threat on the subsequent ridge. DSM looked to push things on and took the reins on the fast descent, soon managing to put three riders into a six-man escape, with Thymen Arensman, Chris Hamilton, and Michael Storer joined by Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroën), Diegeo Camargo (EF Education-Nippo) and Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal). 

The Roglič group eased slightly, allowing the next groups on the road to come back and former one larger peloton once more, while the six escapees moved out to 90 seconds. However, on a flatter section, UAE Team Emirates once again moved forward to chase down the break. They ended up splitting the bunch and creating an all-new 23-man escape. After around 10km, with just under 100km to go, they reached the six leaders to make a breakaway of 29 riders. 

The newcomers were Kuss, Sivakov, Haig, Vine, Elissonde, along with Jan Polanc and Matteo Trentin (UAE), Romain Bardet, Martijn Tusveld (Team DSM), Nelson Oliveira, Carlos Verona (Movistar Team), Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe), Stan Dewulf (AG2R Citroën), Alex Aranburu, Gorka Izagirre (Astana-PremierTech), Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural), Fernando Barcelo, Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Lawson Craddock (EF-Nippo), Simone Petilli (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Andreas Kron, Steff Cras (Lotto Soudal), Andrey Zeits (Team BikeExchange).

Polanc was the best-placed GC rider, in 12th at 1:42, and Trentin sacrificed himself to try and push the move clear. Behind, Roglič had teammates to control the main peloton and keep the gap below three minutes. The category-3 Puerto de Benilloba topped out with 90km to go, and Bardet outsprinted Elissonde for the mountains points in the lead group, with the peloton crossing at 2:30. 

After a descent, the road tilted uphill ahead of the third climb, the category-2 Puerto de Tudons. Trentin led the way for much of the climb, until DSM took over nearer the top. Bardet once again went for the mountains points but was pipped by Polanc, with Elissonde third. Arensman, Bouchard, and Lastra lost contact, while Jumbo-Visma led the peloton over the top 3:30 in arrears with 72km to go. 

A longer descent followed before Trentin led the way through the intermediate sprint at Relleu, which signalled the start of the category-2 Puerto El Collao. DSM went on the offensive rather earlier this time, sending Hamilton on the attack before Storer went solo. After the breakaway had thinned out, Bardet attacked towards the top to take maximum mountains points.

The real drama, however, was unfolding back down the mountain. Half-way up, Movistar lit it up, Jose Joaquin Rojas attacking with Valverde in the wheel. The veteran Spaniard then accelerated himself, and drew out the Ineos Grenadiers duo of Richard Carapaz and Adam Yates. Robert Gesink was forced to relent, leaving Roglič with just Sam Oomen for support, though the Dutchman did manage to close the gap on a flatter section. That’s where Valverde had his crash, slipping out on a right-hand bend and sliding onto the roadside gravel and over the lip of the hillside. He clambered his way back to his feet and, only after a long delay, did get back on his bike, but he had to be pushed by teammates, and it was soon clear he couldn’t go on. He climbed off and broke down in tears. 

As Valverde was clutching his shoulder, his teammate Miguel Angel Lopez went on the attack with Carapaz, a move that even drew Roglič out into a trio, but the GC action soon calmed down after they went over the top of the Collao climb with 40km to go. Gesink returned to the peloton and continued to set pace, now four minutes behind the main breakaway. 

On the next descent, Craddock attacked, and was soon joined by Sivakov and Storer. They then collaborated until the base of the category-3 Puerto de Tibi - 5.3km at 5.3 per cent - with 19km to go, where they had a lead of 55 seconds over the rest of the break and 4:50 over the peloton. 

They squandered most of that as they looked at each other, before they all split up. Sivakov tried to launch an attack but dropped his chain in the process, while Storer then rode away from Craddock. Sivakov, however, came back with a vengeance, dropping Craddock to link back up with Storer, to whom he had plenty to say.

At the top of the Puerto de Tibi, with 14km to go, Sivakov led Storer over the top, and they were followed 15 seconds later by Craddock, and then 15 further seconds later by the rest of the breakaway group, which was down to eight riders. Polanc was among those dropped, leaving Kuss, Bardet, Grossschartner, Haig, Verona, Kron, Cras, and Vine. 

Back in the peloton, Gesink continued to set the pace before Oomen led over the top at five minutes. 

The final climb

Only a short descent preceded the final climb of the Balcón de Alicante (8.4km at 6.2 per cent) and Craddock used it to rejoin the leading duo, but he was soon dropped again when the road tilted back uphill. Behind, Kron and Verona went on the attack, joined forces, and managed to bridge across to Sivakov and Storer to make it four out front 7km from the top. 

The climb actually dipped downhill after the first two kilometres, and that’s where Verona launched an attack, but the front quartet soon reformed. Behind, the pace eased, allowing Polanc, Herrada, and Petilli to get back in. Back in the peloton, Astana took command and set a strong pace on the lower slopes before Steven Kruijswijk took it up as Roglič’s last man.

With 4km to go, after the road had narrowed and steepened, Verona launched another attack. Kron was quickly dropped, while Storer rode away from Sivakov to join Verona. The Australian didn’t waste much time in going on the attack himself, easing clear as Sivavov linked up with Verona in chase with 3km to go. 

The steep upper slopes were a case of trying not to come to a halt, but Storer managed to keep the wheels turning and weathered the punishing final storm to continue what is fast becoming a breakthrough season after his recent success at the Tour de l’Ain. 

Behind, the rest of the breakaway trailed home but there was action in the GC group. Landa found himself in trouble early on the second part of the climb, and was forced to drop back with Ciccone, Carapaz, and Aru. As Yates breezed up the steep slopes, Roglič was planted firmly in the wheel, with Bernal and the Movistar duo present and correct, but Vlasov losing contact closer to the top. 

Roglič passed the first big mountain test of this Vuelta with flying colours but, with an even tougher test to come on Sunday, he’ll be aware of the potential threat posed by the Movistar and Ineos duos.