On the shortest road stage of the 2024 Vuelta a España, this Thursday, the peloton headed towards the Manzaneda station. After a steady, rolling climb, Pablo Castrillo took the victory from the breakaway while David Gaudu kept eleventh place overall after a quiet climb among the favorites. The action should be back as from tomorrow on the Puerto de Ancares. Unfortunately, Kevin Geniets was forced to abandon.
Barely 137 km of racing, but still 3000 metres of elevation gain were on the menu of the Vuelta this Thursday. Although only the final climb was classified, a demanding route was still lying ahead for the riders, which obviously made for another suitable day for the attackers. “There was a good chance that there would be climbers in the breakaway,” said Thierry Bricaud. “So it was not a particularly good day for us since Rémy does not feel well, Quentin still has to recover after his ride the day before yesterday, David will no longer be able to break away, and Kevin has not recovered from the first week, in which he experienced very difficult days due to the heat.” The Luxembourger therefore left the race after around thirty kilometres, while the battle for the breakaway was still underway. “It was hard for him yesterday, it was the same today,” noted Thierry. Stefan Küng still tried to slip into a counterattack at the start, but a group of ten men ultimately was able to break away after about an hour of racing. “There will be much more favourable days, where we will have a real chance of winning,” added Thierry. “Today, the goal was rather to stay with David until the foot of the final climb.”
“It could be an interesting day,” Thierry Bricaud
The peloton did not lead the chase behind the breakaway, which got up to ten minutes of a gap. Pablo Castrillo won the stage at the front, and although the pace certainly increased as the climb progressed within the bunch, all the top-20 riders overall finished together at the summit. “It was a relatively smooth climb, without too high gradients, there were no real gaps to be made,” explained Thierry. “Nothing happened and it was a “quiet” day for David.” Nineteenth on the line, the Frenchman kept his eleventh place overall, 5’55 from the red jersey. “For David, it was a good day, but it was more mixed from a team point of view,” added Thierry. “There was no miracle for Kevin. As for Rémy, he has really been feeling bad for 48 hours. At breakfast, I thought that he wasn’t going to last long, but it improved over the course of the morning. He didn’t have a great day, but it was still better than we could have imagined. We hope that it will improve in the coming days.” On the tough slopes of Puerto de Ancares on Friday, his leader could also need his abilities. “The GC could change on such terrain, with a very complicated final and high gradients,” concluded Thierry. “If David feels as good as yesterday, it could be an interesting day. We won’t be able to win with one of the other riders from the breakaway, so it will be all for David.”
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