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As it happened: Martinez takes red, Evenepoel loses ground to Jumbo-Visma on Vuelta a España stage 6

By Barry Ryan
last updated

Sepp Kuss claims Javalambre summit finish

Profile of stage 6 of la Vuelta a España 2023

(Image credit: ASO/Unipublic)

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After Monday’s early summit finish in Andorra, the general classification contenders at this Vuelta a España face another test on stage 6, which finishes at the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre atop the Pico del Buitre. The category 1 ascent features long stretches of 15% gradients, and it seems sure to provoke an even starker selection than Monday’s finale at Arinsal.

Alasdair Fotheringham is on site at the Vuelta, and he was also on the scene for the Javalambre's previous appearance in the race in 2019, when Angel Madrazo won the stage and then followed up with a press conference for the ages. "He talked non-stop for the best part of half an hour in his press conference, and when he finally ended his conversation, he was treated to a rare round of applause by the journalists present," Alasdair writes. Read the full preview here.

Remco Evenepoel carries the red jersey of race leader into today's stage. The Belgian has made no secret of his desire to rid himself of the overall lead to a willing escapee at some point this week, but he is also looking to take every available opportunity to put time into men like Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic. Yesterday, Evenepoel added six seconds to his lead by cannily picking up the intermediate sprint in the finale.

General classification after stage 5

Today’s start is in La Vall d'Uixó, in the province of Castelló, and the 183km route winds towards Aragon by way of some rugged terrain, including the category 3 climbs of the Puerto de Arenillas and the Alto Fuente de Rubielos. The grand finale comes with the category 1 haul up the Javalambre observatory, at an altitude of 1956m. The final climb is 10.9km long at an average of 8%.

The peloton rolls out from the start at 12.20 CET, with the race scheduled to hit kilometre zero and the start proper at 12.34.

A reminder of yesterday's result - Kaden Groves outkicked Filippo Ganna to take the sprint win on stage 5, his second win in a row at La Vuelta a España.

And the riders are off! The neutralised start will lead into the official stage start in 7km at 12.34 CEST.

La Vuelta a España's official social media account has shared the first pedal strokes from La Vall d'Uixó.

The race has now officially started, with riders clearing the 7km neutralised section.
The riders are straight onto a small uncategorised ascent before taking on the category-3 Puerto de Arenillas, so we'll expect to see breaks forming in the coming kilometres.

The peloton has so far taken on a lackadaisical 20kmh pace through the neutralised section, but the first attack has come within a few kilometres of the flag drop, and breakaway protagonist Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Dstny) has attacked alongside Diego Andrés Camargo from EF Education-Easypost.

The two riders have pulled 20 seconds clear of the peloton, with Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) setting off in pursuit.

174km to go

Poels has joined the two riders, and holding onto an advantage of 25 seconds, as they approach the foothills of Puerto de Arenillas, maybe this move could stick.

-165km

Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH), second at Javalambre in 2019, makes an attempt to bridge up to the three escapees, but the Dutchman is recaptured by the peloton.

De Gendt and Poels have been caught by the bunch, while Rui Costa is now just 9 seconds clear in the company of Diego Andres Camargo (EF Education-EasyPost)

-153km

-150km

Remco Evenepoel's Soudal-QuickStep guard duly come to the front and bring that group of 27 riders back. The Belgian is keen to farm out his red jersey but a group of that size was too dangerous to allow to sally clear.

-144km

 Jan Tratnik (Jumbo-Visma) attacks on the lower slopes of the climb in the company of Andreas Kron (Lotto-Dstny). It's interesting to see Jumbo-Visma send the Slovenian up the road at this point.

-136km

Tratnik goes again further up the climb, however, and this time the Slovenian is in a bigger group with Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Max Poole (DSM-Firmenich), Cristian Rodriguez (Arkéa Samsic), Fabien Doubey (Total Energies) and Jefferson Cepeda (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). There are plenty more riders still trying to get across.

Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) led Oier Lazkano (Cofidis) and Nicolas Prodhomme (AG2R Citroën) over the top of the Puerto de Arenillas with a small lead over the chasing group.

-124km

Evenepoel has lost a teammate, with Soudal-QuickStep reporting that Andrea Bagioli has abandoned the Vuelta. Lorenzo Milesi (DSM), a faller earlier on the stage, has also been forced to abandon. Milesi was the first maillot rojo of this race on Saturday evening, which already feels a lifetime ago.

The drama continues as Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) crashes in the peloton, but it appears that the Australian will remain in the race.

-120km

-115km

-111km

-105km

Another abandon to report. Jay Vine has withdrawn from the Vuelta following his crash earlier in the stage.

-101km

Soler's attack has splintered this unwieldy front group. 

Andrea Bagioli's abandon would appear to bear out the rumour that a number of Soudal-QuickStep riders had been stricken by illness in recent days, but the tough finale of this stage will shed more light on their general condition.

Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek) has bridged up to Soler, leaving two riders at the front with the rest of the break splintered along the hillside. The peloton, meanwhile, is now reportedly six minutes back.

-90km

-80km

This huge breakaway group keeps breaking up and reforming on this rugged terrain. The one constant is that Jumbo-Visma seem keen to keep driving on, with Van Baarle leading the way on behalf of Kuss. Tratnik and Valter are also up here for the Dutch squad.

The front group continues to fragment and reform. Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Jan Tratnik, Dylan van Baarle, Attila Valter (Jumbo-Visma), Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ), Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek), Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Paul Ourselin (TotalEnergies) are the latest to ghost off the front. Soudal-QuickStep and Movistar lead the peloton, 6:25 down. 

Ineos have also joined Movistar and Soudal-QuickStep in policing the head of the peloton. Jumbo-Visma's four riders in the front group are an obvious concern, even if Roglic and Kuss are not among them.

-70km

Lenny Martinez began the day 17 seconds off Evenepoel's red jersey and the French youngster is the virtual race leader. Soler (at 48 seconds), Kuss (at 55 seconds) and Poels (at 1:15) are also GC threats here. 

Dylan van Baarle and Jan Tratnik continue to drive the pace at the head of this break, six minutes clear of a peloton that is still being led by Ineos, Movistar and Soudal-QuickStep. Evenepoel was keen for a break to go clear and take the red jersey off his hands, but he surely wouldn't have wanted four Jumbo-Visma riders, including Sepp Kuss, going up the road in a group of this size on a day like this. 

The only classified climb left on the agenda today is that category 1 haul to the finish, but the entire stage plays out on heavy, rolling roads, and it will not be at all easy for the peloton to reel in a break of this strength.

-63km

A reminder that Jay Vine was among the abandons earlier today after he crashed during the frantic opening part of the stage.

-58km

Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard are sitting very comfortably in the peloton behind the cohort of Soudal-QuickStep, Ineos and Movistar riders who are working to pare down the dangerous break's lead. It's not quite L'Aquila at the 2010 Giro or Formigal at the 2016 Vuelta, but it cannot have been in the QuickStep plan to allow a group of this size and strength build an advantage like this on a day like this...

-51km

-47.5km

-45km

Sepp Kuss

Dylan van Baarle drives the break on behalf of Sepp Kuss. (Image credit: Getty Images)

-40km

-37km

Lenny Martinez remains on course to inherit the red jersey, even if Soler and Kuss will provide stiff opposition. Men like Poels, Landa and Bardet, meanwhile, will be eyeing stage victory on Javalhambre.

-33km

Tratnik comes to the front of the break now to breathe a bit of momentum into their efforts. Their gap, which was once north of 6 minutes, is now down to 3:33 as Ineos, Soudal-QuickStep and Movistar continue to drive the pace behind.

-28km

Out in front, meanwhile, Cofidis have joined Tratnik and Van Baarle in working in the break. The French squad has three riders up here and they want to give themselves a fighting chance of winning the stage by keeping this 3:30 gap to the foot of the climb.

Filippo Ganna puts in a mammoth turn at the head of the bunch. The Italian was an impressive second in the bunch sprint yesterday and he'll be eyeing next Tuesday's time trial, but right now, he has a shift to do on behalf of Geraint Thomas.

-25km

-23km

After some relief from Astana's Javier Romo, Tratnik resumes the pace-making for Jumbo-Visma at the head of the break.

-21.5km

-20km

The peloton, meanwhile, approaches the intermediate sprint 3:15 down on the escapees.

-17km

-12km

-11.5km

-10km

Storer's pace-making helps the break stretch its gap out to 3:55 again, and his efforts have also seen a number of riders shelled out the back of this group.

-9km

-8.5km

-8km

The red jersey group is down to 20 riders or so. Evenepoel, Vingegaard, Roglic, Enric Mas, Juan Ayuso, Geraint Thomas, Aleksandr Vlasov and Joao Almeida are all safely aboard on these lower slopes. 

Cattaneo and Vervaeke have sat up from this front group to drop back to help Evenepoel in the red jersey group.

-7km

-5.5km

-5km

-4km

Out in front, meanwhile, Einer Rubio (Movistar) attacks alone and opens a small gap. His acceleration provokes a reaction from the break and Buchmann is distanced.

Rubio stretches out his lead. De la Cruz senses the danger and takes up the reins of pursuit. Bardet, Lenny Martinez and Landa are among the riders lined up on his wheel.

Rubio is alone at the head of the race with 23 seconds on a group of a dozen or so riders that includes Kuss, Martinez, Bardet, Buitrago, Soler and Landa. The red jersey group is at 3:22.

-3.5km

-3km

Primoz Roglic attacks with intent from the red jersey group and the Slovenian immediately opens a gap...

The red jersey group has fragmented and Evenepoel is among those struggling...

Mas, Ayuso, Vingegaard and Vlasov are in a group chasing Roglic. Evenepoel is further down the mountain with Cattaneo, Almeida and Thomas, battling to limit his losses...

Roglic is picking off the remnants of the break. He has a handful of seconds in hand on Ayuso, Vingegaard, Mas and Vlasov, while Evenepoel is visibly struggling and shipping time... 

-2km

Vingegaard and Mas have bridged up to Roglic. Attila Valter has dropped back from the break to help his leaders, and they have more than 30 seconds in hand on a suffering Evenepoel...

-1.5km

-1km

Valter swings off and now Roglic takes up the reins again with Roglic and Vingegaard on his wheel. Evenepoel looks to have picked up a bit of speed, but can he claw back some of this deficit in the final push? He's done it before at the Vuelta, after all...

Sepp Kuss is cruising to stage victory but he needs to push on to give himself a shot at taking possession of the red jersey.

Kuss breaks into a broad smile. The stage is his, but what about red?

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) wins stage 6 of the Vuelta a España.

Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) kicks past Bardet in the finishing straight to take second on the stage, 28 seconds down. By my reckoning, he's done enough to take the red jersey. Romain Bardet (DSM) is third on the day.

Roglic and Vingegaard just ride away from Mas in the final kilometre almost without realising it. Not the first such exhibition we've seen from Jumbo-Visma in recent seasons. 

Ayuso has caught and passed a flagging Mas in the final kilometre. Evenepoel, meanwhile, has picked up a head of steam and caught Vlasov, but can he limit the damage inflicted by Roglic and Vingegaard?

Roglic leads Vingegaard over the line, 2:51 behind Kuss. Ayuso comes in a few seconds behind them.

Evenepoel climbs from the saddle and accelerates in the final metres. He closes to within sight of Mas and he crosses the line at 3:23, so he concedes just over half a minute to Roglic and Vingegaard. It could have been worse. It certainly looked like it was going to be much worse with 2.5km or so to go.

Result

Sepp Kuss

(Image credit: Getty Images)

General classification

Lenny Martinez wore white on behalf of Evenepoel today. Tomorrow he'll wear the red jersey by right. A fine ride by a young man with immense potential.

Sepp Kuss: “It was incredibly hard stage. We wanted to try to go in the breakaway just to test QuickStep and we knew it would be a hard day to control. That was the primary objective and we were in there with Dylan, Jan and Attila, and they rode super. I have to thank them a lot for the work they did. The whole day I felt super, super good, I was only thinking about when to go and when to try to make the difference. The whole climb I was just enjoying the environment we have in the Vuelta, it’s always a special race for me."

A day of a thousand stories has thrown up some fascinating trends in the GC battle. Kuss' position on GC means that Jumbo-Visma have a third card to play for final overall victory. There was also a clear show of strength from Roglic and Vingegaard, but Evenepoel still limited his losses sufficiently to stay just ahead of them in the overall standings. It could have been a whole lot worse. The momentum is clearly with Jumbo-Visma, but Evenepoel will hope to steady the ship in the coming days and then see what he can conjure up in the time trial at the start of next week.

Elsewhere, Ayuso wasn't quite on the level of the Jumbo duo, but he conceded just 7 seconds to them in the final reckoning. Like Evenepoel, he made a late, late charge. And so too, of course, did Lenny Martinez, who took hold of the red jersey with effort in the final kilometre.

Remco Evenepoel on his day: "Not bad. I was feeling ok, just couldn’t speed up when the others went. I just had to hold my own pace and in the end, it was 30 seconds slower than the fastest guys. I didn’t feel like I was really going all out, it was more of a controlled effort, but I just could not go over that limit. You just have some days like that. Today it was my turn with not having the best legs.

Primoz Roglic on Jumbo-Visma's successful day: "It was super good. I mean it’s the start of the mountains. For sure today I had a bit better legs. A long way to go, eh, but a good day, we will enjoy it. We won’t complain. It went well, we won the stage, we took time. More we cannot wish, eh."

Jonas Vingegaard's post-stage thoughts: "“I think it was a good stage, we did super well today. At the start the boys were amazing, we put pressure on QuickStep and it turned out perfectly for us today. I was quite ok, at least better than previous days. I’ve been suffering a bit in the start, so luckily I found the legs again. [Sepp Kuss] is an amazing guy and he deserves it. Is he in the red jersey as well? No? That’s a shame, he would have deserved it as well, but the stage win is also amazing.”

A full report, results and pictures from today's stage are available here.

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