Vuelta a España stage 6 LIVE: Breakaway clear on the first Pyrenean mountain test of the race

A few issues for Fortunato in the break as he tries to sort something with his shoe. This bad weather is making everything more difficult and stressful for the riders.

It will be interesting to see how Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe go today. They’ve ridden a good race so far, with fourth in yesterday’s team time trial (despite Matteo Sobrero’s crash) helping keep their GC men Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari up there on GC, in eighth and ninth respectively. We’ll get a good idea today of whether either rider are genuine contenders for the red jersey.

'You're on a knife-edge, mistakes can and do happen' – Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe regroup to fourth after nasty Sobrero crash in Vuelta a España TTT

The rain has eased a bit, while the break's lead grows to four minutes - the biggest it's been all day.

80KM TO GO

Vingegaard also said that he anticipates being attacked today - but from who? Certainly UAE Team Emirates are the most likely candidates, with Almeida, Ayuso and Soler all poised to give him headaches.

The rain is fluctuating in how heavy it’s falling. Right now it’s pouring heavily on the break, making this descent very complicated. Thankfully for them, it’s not too steep a gradient.

Still a healthy lead of 3:50 for the break as they continue to descend.

90KM TO GO

Visma-Lease a Bike have controlled the stage for much of the day. Jonas Vingegaard has identified this as an important GC day, s owe can ecepct him to make a move on the final climb.

'Thursday is the first proper hard stage' - Jonas Vingegaard looks ahead to mountains after regaining Vuelta a España lead in team time trial

3:45 now for the break as they go down this descent.

100KM TO GO

Vervaeke was the first rider to the summit of the climb, meaning he now leads the King of the Mountains. Vine, Fortunato, Garofoli and Shaw took the rest of the points, meaning the virtual classification looks like this:

1 Vervaeke 20

2 Nicolau 11

3 Quinn 9

4 Vine 9

5 Verre 8

KOM - COLLADA DE TOSES

The riders have crested the climb, the break 3:40 ahead of the peloton. Now comes a long, gradual descent.

Not long now until the break reaches the summit.

Around 3:30 now for the leaders as they near the top of the climb. The peloton are happy to have them up the road for now.

110KM TO GO

The break's lead has grown a little more, now up to almost three minutes.

The weather has taken a bit of a turn, as you can see from the wet roads and different outerwear.

Visma Lease-a-Bike are leading the peloton at a steady pace on this climb. They've been at the front of t for much of the day.

Incidentally, Torstein Træen is currently the virtual red jersey, down only 58 seconds on GC. In fact, he, Armirail, Vervaeke and Fortunato are all within two minutes of Vingegaard. This could make their survival to the finish difficult, if the GC teams are feeling cautious and worried about the threat they might pose if allowed too much time.

The Collada de Toses is very long, lasting 24.4km, but the average gradient of just 3.5% isn’t proving to be selective.

The race is in a holding pattern on this mountain, the break maintaining a lead of about 2:30 over the peloton, from which no attacks have been made.

120KM TO GO

Things are looking good for the break. Their lead is growing as they ascend the lower slopes of the climb, and now have about 2:15 over the peloton.

The riders have spent the past few kilometres going uphill again, and will soon be officially on the Collada de Toses. The break’s lead has grown to 1:50, which might be small enough to encourage some teams and riders who have missed out to attempt their own move.

130KM TO GO

The ten riders in the day's break.

The break's lead has grown some more, but not by much - as they ride through the valley, it's at about 1-20.

140KM TO GO

It’l be fascinating to see how UAE use their three-pronged GC attack against Vingegaard and the rest of the field today. Will they be able to make use of their numerical advantage, or is this a recipe for disharmony? They were certainly delighted with how yesterday went, but will want to build on that success today.

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Jay Vine’s presence in the break is interesting in terms of his UAE team’s strategy. The team moved three riders into the top four on GC following yesterday’s team time trial stage win, but Vine himself is way down having lost time in the opening stages. He won’t therefore be able to put pressure directly on Vingegaard, but could help his teammates Ayuso, Almeida and Soler later in the stage if they need it.

The break has increased its lead on the descent and subsequent flat roads, to just over a minute. This could be the break of the day - although things could still change on the upcoming category one Collada de Toses, if it hasn’t built enough of a lead by then.

150KM TO GO

Weather-wise it’s a warm, pleasant day in the saddle, with the temperature at a bit more than 20 degrees.

Vervaeke has already been chasing KOM points, and is closing in on Joel Nicolau’s lead. But if Vine is putting his mind to it, he’ll be a real candidate for the jersey given his climbing calibre. Here are the new rankings:

1 Nicolau 11

2 Vervaeke 10

3 Quinn 9

4 Verre 8

5 Vingegaard 5

Jay Vine won the sprint at the top of the summit, with Vervaeke in second and Fortunato in third.

These are all ten of the riders in the break, which now leads by about 20 seconds:

Pablo Castrillo

Jay Vine

Bruno Armirail

Lorenzo Fortunato

Archie Ryan

James Shaw

Torstein Træen

Ramses Debruyne

Louis Vervaeke

Gianmarco Garofoli

The riders are over the top of the mountain and are now descending back down it.

KOM - COLLADA DE SENTIGOSA

Giro King of the Mountains winner Lorenzo Fortunato is also in this breakaway. You'd imagine he has his eyes on the KOM points coming up soon at the summit.

This group of riders have about 15 seconds on the peloton, as they near the top of the climb.

160KM TO GO

Former Vuelta stage winners Jay Vine and Pablo Castrillo are also in it.

A few riders have a gap now, of about 10 seconds. Breakaway specialist Bruno Armirail is among them.

There still hasn’t been a breakaway success at this year’s Vuelta, but you sense today could be the best chance so far. Much will depend on the strength of the group that does eventually form, and the appetite among the GC contenders to chase them, but the riders will be fighting to get into this break knowing they’re in with a shot.

There have been more attacks, but nothing has succeeded yet.

Collada de Sentigosa only rises at 4.2%, but will go on for a whole 11.1km, providing a decent amount of time for a break to try and form.

A quartet of riders broke clear on the early slopes of this time, but were quickly brought back.

The jersey wearers, at the unofficial start.

And they're off!

OFFICIAL START

There's been a slight delay to the official start, but they will be racing soon.

Jonas Vingegaard is again wearing red, after his Visma-Lease a Bike did just about enough to keep it for him from the threat posed by the UAE Team Emirates - XRG leaders from their team time trial victory yesterday.

The first of the day’s climbs, Collada de Sentigosa, begins almost right from the flat. It might only be a category three, but it’ll be enough to spark any non-GC climbers with their eye on the stage win to try and get into the break.

There are four mountains to be ridden over today, including two rated category one, the last one coming at the finish - all of which means this will be a big day in the GC race, surely the biggest so far. Here’s our extensive preview of what today has in store.

Vuelta a España stage 6 preview - Which GC contender will conquer the first high mountains challenge?

There’s been a small exodus of riders, with three abandoning the race ahead of the stage - Simon Carr, Pepijn Reinderink and Arjen Livyns. All were due to illness, so we can only hope there isn’t something spread around the peloton.

The riders are in Olot, a town in Catalonia, and have just set off from the unofficial start.

You join us for the day that the Vuelta reaches the Pyrenean mountains, for the first real climbing test of the race.

Hello and welcome to stage 6 of the Vuelta a España!