For the first day of racing in the Basque Country this Thursday, the Vuelta a España did not just offer a fight within the breakaway, as could be expected. Although Stefan Küng did indeed try it all at the front of the race, before he had to settle for twelfth place, the favorites also had their bit of action on stage 18. David Gaudu didn’t get trapped, and thanks to the support of Quentin Pacher in the final, was able to get into the top-5 overall before the last three decisive stages.
Just like the previous days, the candidates for the breakaway were quite numerous this Thursday on stage 18 of the Vuelta, on a winding and hilly route in the Spanish Basque Country. From Vitoria-Gasteix, it therefore took nearly fifty kilometres for a group to shape up at the front. Among the most active at the start, Stefan Küng logically managed to catch the right move, as did some forty other riders. A huge breakaway managed to go clear, although the peloton did not immediately ease off. At the bottom of the day’s first climb, Quentin Pacher then entered a chasing group, while his Swiss teammate took advantage of the following downhill to go hard at the front. “I was the only member of the team in the breakaway, and some teams had 3-4 riders, so I obviously had to anticipate so as not to get outnumbered later on,” said Stefan. “I did the first downhill at full speed and I went away with two riders. I hoped that the group behind would stop working together. Unfortunately, they still rode quite strong because we never took too much of a gap.”
“I have no regrets”, Stefan Küng
The time trial specialist did get away with Mauro Schmid and Mathias Vacek, but their lead, which peaked at one minute, was just thirty seconds at the bottom of the main climb of the day, the Puerto de Herrera (5.6 km at 8.3%), located forty-five kilometres from the finish. “The goal for Stefan was to get a small head start before the climb,” said Thierry Bricaud. “It didn’t really work out, because he didn’t have enough of a gap, and they went fast from the bottom behind. These are also hard gradients for him, and he paid for it a little at the end.” Joined by a dozen men at the head of the race, the Swiss rider was a bit distanced as he approached the summit, but he was then able to come back after the descent. Thirteen men eventually got back together to fight for the stage victory, while the battle between the favourites opened up at the back, at the instigation of Richard Carapaz. “It wasn’t the hardest stage on paper, but in the end, there was still some damage on the climb”, commented David, who always stayed very close to his main rivals.
On the other hand, Mikel Landa lost contact, and the Frenchman from Groupama-FDJ quickly climbed into the provisional top-5 overall. “It’s a typical day where you think that not much will happen, but the fatigue at the end of a Grand Tour is there”, explained Thierry. “The proof is that David took advantage of it today, thanks also to the support of Quentin who did a great end to the stage”. Alongside other teams looking to get rid of Landa, the French puncher pulled for his leader until the finish, where the gap exceeded three minutes on the Spaniard. In this same finish, Stefan Küng was not able to fight for the win as he was dropped in the last hill of the course with five kilometres to go. “I tried again to go before the last climb, unfortunately it didn’t work, but I have no regrets,” he said. “Given the breakaway I was in, it was always going to be difficult. Now, let’s try to recover to get through the next two days in a good way before the time trial.” The Swiss man took twelfth place at the end, while Urko Berrada won solo. “We are frustrated for Stefan because he had a great opportunity today,” added Thierry. “We know that we have everything we need to win a stage, but everything has to come together, and it hasn’t today for Stefan.”
“We must keep calm”, David Gaudu
At the end of the eighteenth stage, David Gaudu officially climbed to fifth place overall, 3’48 behind the red jersey Ben O’Connor. “It’s good, but the gaps are small with riders like Skjelmose or Rodriguez”, added David. “It’s tomorrow and the day after that matter and when I’ll need to be strong. We must keep calm. What happened to Landa today can happen to anyone. We stay focused, we’re doing our own race, and we’ll see where we are on Sunday morning before the time trial in Madrid”. “Tomorrow, it will be a fight between the leaders in the final climb before a very hard day on Saturday”, Thierry concluded. “The Vuelta is far from over”.
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