The terrible slopes of the Cuitu Negru did create some gaps this Sunday on stage 15 of the Vuelta. At the top of the Asturian climb, the general classification wasn’t turned upside down, but David Gaudu still took advantage of a solid ride to gain two places and find himself in seventh position before the final week of racing. The Spaniard Pablo Castrillo won the stage, Ben O’Connor kept his red jersey, and the Lagos de Covadonga will be on the menu on Tuesday.
The second week of the Vuelta a España was therefore supposed to end at the top of the mighty Cuitu Negru (19 km at 7%) this Sunday. Up there, 1,800 metres above sea level, ramps of over 20% awaited the riders after one 140 kilometres of racing. What’s more, three other climbs featured on this fifteenth stage. The first of them, the Alto de la Colladiella (6.5 km at 8%) sowed chaos after just thirty kilometres. The breakaway had not yet gone, and the bunch totally exploded, so much so that there were only fifteen men left approaching the summit. “The start was quite intense, to say the least,” confirmed Thierry Bricaud. “It was a bit crazy because we got quite quickly to the bottom of the first climb and the favourites got away simply because it was hard. There were quite a few moves before a breakaway managed to go with Quentin and Stefan. We wanted to have a head start, so that David could get support as the final stage approached if he had been in a bit of trouble.” The breakaway only went clear after sixty kilometres, and the Groupama-FDJ duo got the company of around fifteen riders including Pavel Sivakov, Aleksandr Vlasov, Jay Vine, Dani Martinez, Jack Haig and George Bennett and Lorenzo Fortunato.
“We shot a bullet for nothing”, David Gaudu
The peloton did not completely ease off, however, as the gap was maintained around two and a half minutes throughout the day. The breakaway, reduced to seven men including Pacher and Küng, could still start the final climb with a three-minute lead. From then on, Sivakov pushed the pace, and Stefan Küng and then Quentin Pacher had to let it go despite some good resistance. “I was hoping to catch up with them on the flat section before the very steep part of the final,” David said. “It almost happened for Quentin, but we caught him a kilometre too early.” After ten kilometres of climbing, the peloton was made up of only a dozen riders, and the first attack came about six kilometres from the summit. David Gaudu was able to follow, but the favorites were unable to create gaps at this point in the race. “It went very fast from the bottom,” David said. “I may have made a mistake following Landa when he attacked, but my goal was to hang on until this flat section because I knew that it could take us very far if there were still domestiques. Unfortunately we sat down a bit and shot a bullet for nothing”. “David was always up there, then the real fight happened on the very difficult final ramps”, Thierry added.
“It bodes well for a rather crazy last week”, Thierry Bricaud
The last men standing from the breakaway tackled these slopes with a good margin on the red jersey group, from which Primoz Roglic very quickly tried to break away. “It was a man-to-man battle”, said Thierry. “It was so difficult that everyone took their place and then climbed at their own pace, but the slopes are so steep that it is difficult to create big gaps”. Slightly distanced, David Gaudu did not crack in these last three kilometres averaging 13% and with ramps up to 20%. On the line, he therefore secured tenth place of the stage, which meant seventh among the red jersey group, thirty-three seconds behind Enric Mas and Primoz Roglic. “He did a solid climb, he is still in the running to do a good general classification and that is the main thing”, said Thierry. “From a ranking point of view, it is a good day because he gained two places (7th, editor’s note), but they’re not far behind him either. The last week could be a bit crazy because there are quite a few difficult finishes and there will be a great fight to go for the top positions.” “It was a successful day”, added David. “I think we would have been happy if we had been told that I would be seventh in the general classification before the second rest day. It bodes well but we will stay focused until the end.”
It’s now time for a rest day before a big challenge on Tuesday towards the Lagos de Covagonda, where Thibaut Pinot triumphed in 2018.
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