Stage 4 of the Vuelta a España delivered a first answer this Tuesday on the slopes of Pico Villuercas. For David Gaudu, it proved rather encouraging. On the race’s first summit finish, the French climber managed to stay in contact with the favorites for a bit before taking a solid fifteenth place at the top, forty seconds behind the winner and new red jersey Primoz Roglic. The Groupama-FDJ’s leader now sits in the same place overall.
After three stages made for the rouleurs and sprinters, the Vuelta really changed terrain on Tuesday. No less than 3,500 metres of elevation gain were on the riders’ menu for their first day in Spain, and some crazy slopes awaited them at Pico Villuercas after 170 kilometres of racing. Due to the profile being much hard than the previous days, the start of the stage was quite eventful, and it took Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Dstny), Filippo Zana (Jayco-AlUla), Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma) and Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi) thirty kilometres to make it to the front. “The goal was to possibly take the breakaway with Kevin and Quentin if it was a big one,” explained Thierry Bricaud. “We quickly realized that it was controlled, by the Redbull-Bora hansgrohe in particular, and we knew that it would come down to the final climb. From then on, it was all for David and Rémy.” The peloton stayed about three minutes behind the fugitives throughout the day, with a stifling heat to handle as well. “It was difficult for us and difficult for the whole peloton,” said Thierry. “When you have temperatures close to 40 degrees like today, the riders think more about hydrating and cooling down than anything else, and that’s understandable.”
“It’ll do me good the rest of the race,” David Gaudu
Everyone yet regained focus entering the last hour of racing, and while the Armirail-Castrillo duo was approaching the final climb with a two-minute lead. Although being fourteen kilometers long, the Pico Villuercas mostly stood out because of its three kilometers averaging 13%, which only came to an end 1,500 metres from the summit. The last men standing from the breakaway were caught on the first steep slopes, and the peloton also very quickly reduced from the back. “Positioning was pretty simple because there weren’t many riders left,” explained Thierry. “David and Rémy found themselves a bit too far away at the bottom, when the pace got faster, then everyone climbed at their own rhythm.” While Primoz Roglic made the selection among his opponents, the Breton tried to manage his effort as best he could. “The plan was to follow for as long as possible and see where I stood compared to the other favorites on a climb like today’s,” he said. “I managed the bottom well, but I just accelerated a little too early to try to get back to the Almeida group. I went completely into the red and exploded 600 metres from the end of the steep part.”
At the front, seven riders got together in the last kilometre to fight for the victory, and Primoz Roglic claimed it. David Gaudu limited his losses and finished in fifteenth position, forty seconds behind. “My small mistake cost me my place alongside Sepp Kuss (11th at 28 seconds editor’s note), but a lot of other leaders exploded, so it’s not too bad,” he said. “I hadn’t had any landmark result on summit finishes for a while, and it was actually a very punchy one. It was played out on two very hard kilometers; it wasn’t a forty-five-minute climb. It’s a decent day and it’ll do me good for the rest of the race.” “David fought well,” Thierry said. “He kept the small delay he had at the bottom for the whole climb, but he still finished with a few riders who will be fighting for the GC. This means that he is in the mix, and it will boost him going forward. That is the most important thing.” Also fifteenth overall on Tuesday evening, David Gaudu is one minute and twenty-four seconds behind Roglic, the new red jersey. “We have a GC goal with David, and we are in the running,” concluded Thierry. “In the coming days, the stages could favour breakaways. Maybe not tomorrow, but we will have to be active because breakaways will surely make it, and we must be there because we have the squad for it”
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