Like the two previous ones, the eleventh stage of the Tour of Spain smiled on the breakaway this Wednesday around Padrón. The Groupama-FDJ cycling team managed to insert three pawns, namely Sven-Erik Bystrom, Reuben Thompson and Lorenzo Germani, but the trio was unable to join the fight until the end. The Norwegian finally obtained eighteenth place, fifty seconds after Eddie Dunbar. For his part, David Gaudu managed to follow the main favorites in the final difficulty of the day, making up time on some of his competitors in the general classification.*
As Thierry Bricaud recalled on Tuesday, “The breakaways have a real chance of going all week long.” And so it was again this Wednesday in the vicinity of Padrón, where the eleventh stage of the Vuelta was being planned. Four climbs were scheduled on the Galician circuit, and the first of them came after thirty kilometers. At that point, no move had yet clearly stood out, and the climb did not really allow for a clear-cut sorting out either. In fact, it was only after seventy kilometers of fighting that a leading group was able to break away, in several waves. The riders of the Groupama-FDJ cycling team followed some of them, and Sven-Erik Bystrom, Reuben Thompson and Lorenzo Germani found themselves at the front with around thirty other competitors. “The start was very tough with a lot of attacks, commented the Norwegian. In the end, we managed to put three guys, and that was pretty good in such a group. Unfortunately, we were missing a real climber, so our chances were a bit limited from the start.” “It’s true that they weren’t our best elements to have a chance of winning, because we knew that it could be complicated with the finale that awaited us, confirmed Thierry Bricaud. But we don’t control everything. They are in the game, that’s the main thing, and we will once again remember the state of mind.”
“These moments really do the mind good,” David Gaudu
In a delicate situation this Wednesday, Rémy Rochas and Kevin Geniets suffered rather in this eleventh stage. At the front, the breakaway led the chase for a long time behind a lone man, Xandro Meurisse, then everything came down to the final climb of the Puerto Cruxeiras (3 km at 9%). This sounded the end of the adventure for the Groupama-FDJ trio. “I had managed to follow when Israel-Premier Tech had accelerated for the first timesaid Sven-Erik. I had a little hope of surviving the last climb, but unfortunately it went up a little too fast. The form and confidence are good, but we were realistic about what we were able to achieve today. One of us would have had to have a great day to stay in front, but we still had a good race. The cherry on the cake is missing, but we did our best.” As for him, David Gaudu remained alert as he approached this same last climb, where the peloton flew into pieces. “He was sure that something was going to happenhe confided. I was prepared for a team to get going. I managed my climb, I didn’t try to follow Mas and Roglic when they left. I stayed with the others behind, and the further we went, the more I saw the leaders drop off one after the other. These moments really do good to the head. We managed to get back to the other two leaders at the top, then on the descent Roglic found a teammate.”
Alongside the Slovenian, Enric Mas, Mattias Skjelmose, Carlos Rodriguez and Mikel Landa, the Breton has therefore taken back a few dozen seconds from the other general contenders. “I already had good feelings yesterday, better than the previous week and than what I have known since the beginning of the season, David slipped. We’ve only done eleven stages of the Vuelta, there are about ten left, but it’s still encouraging. It’s good for confidence, but we’re going to stay focused and motivated.” “David has taken good cues for the future, it will boost him,” concluded Thierry. If the French climber has dropped back one place in the general classification due to the comeback of George Bennett, present in the breakaway, the gaps have however narrowed. Tomorrow, the final climb towards the Manzaneda station, although rolling, could still cause some small differences.
