In Yunquera, the Tour of Spain took a new turn on Thursday. In a sixth stage that was made for the breakaway, the battle proved long at the start of the day, and unfortunately the good move was formed after sixty kilometers without a rider from Groupama-FDJ. Ben O’Connor later attacked from this leading group and claimed both the stage win and the leader’s jersey. Within the bunch, David Gaudu, grabbed tenth place of the day. The Frenchman now sits in seventeenth place on GC.
A lot of riders surely had ambition for stage 6 of the Vuelta scheduled this Thursday. Designed over 185 kilometres from Jerez de la Frontera to Yunquera, it offered the perfect terrain for the breakaway due to 3,700 metres of elevation gain and no terrifying climb on its course. Many aimed for the stage victory, some could even dream of the red jersey given the small gaps, and as it is often the case in these situations, an intense and frantic fight occurred at the start of the stage. Stefan Küng and Quentin Pacher first made an attempt after twenty kilometres, then Reuben Thompson and Sven-Erik Bystrom managed to catch a move of thirty riders after forty kilometres. This same group could then start the first climb of the day with a one-minute lead. “We were quite offensive at the start of the stage,” confirmed Thierry Bricaud. “We knew that the breakaway had a good chance of making it in this stage and we wanted to be in the mix. The guys did everything to be there, we were there, but unfortunately we missed the last move, the one that really went clear.”
“We’ll have to keep this state of mind”, Thierry Bricaud
Following several counterattacks in the bunch, the leading group was indeed caught in the Puerto del Boyar, and a new breakaway was then established as they approached the summit. Thirteen men got away, including Ben O’Connor, Florian Lipowitz, Jay Vine, Pelayo Sanchez and Mauri Vansevenant. The peloton gradually eased off, and even left them a lead of five minutes. The breakaway was therefore able to go for the stage victory, but Ben O’Connor ultimately proved to be much stronger than his competitors and went on to win solo and steal the red jersey from Primoz Roglic. The peloton joined the line 6’31 after the Australian, and David Gaudu took second place within it, which meant tenth on the day. “With a little hindsight, we don’t have many regrets about the breakaway, because we would not have been able to win today,” explained Thierry. “Ben O’Connor was alone in his league. On the other hand, we will have to keep this state of mind during the next few days. We also avoided the crashes, and it was a positive day from that point of view.”
Since some riders took advantage of the breakaway to climb on GC, David Gaudu lost two positions (17th) but the situation could change this weekend. Friday, the stage could be quite open. “There is again a chance for the breakaway, but the sprinters’ teams may want to control,” concluded Thierry. “After passing Córdoba for the first time at forty kilometers, we will tackle a hard climb, and not all the sprinters will get over it. It is up to us to take advantage of the opportunities, and in any case, it will not be a complete peloton at the finish.”
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