La Vuelta Ciclista a España

La Vuelta resumed Tuesday afternoon with another summit finish, on Larra Belagua, the climb where Remco Evenepoel won two years ago, clad in the Belgian Champion jersey, after a breakaway masterclass. The first-category ascent was the main difficulty of the day, and that made for an insane start to the stage, as numerous riders were determined to book a place in the breakaway, sensing they had a strong chance of remaining there until the finish.

Gianmarco Garofoli and Mikel Landa were two of these riders, but their job was almost impossible, as the moment the breakaway was taking its advantage to at least half a minute, the peloton made sure of reacting and bringing them back. That made for a whooping 50km/h average speed in the first two hours of the race, a group managing to extricate itself from the bunch with only 70 kilometers left. When they did, T-Rex Quick-Step riders were there: Junior Lecerf and Louis Vervaeke.

The former took some long pulls in order to take the gap to more than three minutes and help his much younger teammate in his attempt of gaining time on the general classification. The group remained compact until the penultimate climb, where the cooperation went up in smoke after a couple of attacks that splintered the breakaway. Lecerf found himself trailing and did a great effort in the valley, but also on the opening slopes of Larra Belagua, before being eventually caught by the favourites just two kilometers from the line.

Winner of the Czech Tour a couple of weeks ago, the 22-year-old found the strength to remain there and even sprint within sight of the line, taking ninth at the finish. For his strong day at the front, Lecerf was rewarded not just with his first top ten of this Vuelta, but also by moving up three places on the general classification.

I felt quite good from the start today and I could save a bit the legs in the beginning on the flat roads.

“The original plan wasn’t to go in the break, but when I noticed a big move was a bit clear, I made the jump together with other guys and took my chance. It worked well and was nice to have Louis for company there. On the last climb of the day I just gave everything and I’m happy I could conclude this stage in the top ten, it’s a good result for the confidence”, Junior said at the finish.

Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images