The Belgian Remco Evenepoel, 22 years old, (Quick Step) is the new leader of the Vuelta a España after finishing second behind the Australian Jay Vine (Alpecin Deceuninck) in the sixth stage, 181.2 kilometers, between Bilbao and Pico Jano, an unprecedented summit and the first arrival on top this edition.
Jay Vine (Canberra, 26 years old) reached the Cantabrian summit of Pico Jano alone with a time of 4:38:00, at an average speed of 39.1 km/hour. At 15 seconds the Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Quick Step) and the Spanish Enric Mas entered. The also Spanish Juan Ayuso entered at 55 seconds and the Slovenian Primoz Roglic at 1.37 minutes. In the general classification, Evenepoel is the new leader, followed by Frenchman Molard, 21 seconds behind, and third is Enric Mas, 28 seconds behind. Tomorrow, Friday, the seventh stage will be played, between Camargo and Cistierna, of 190 km.
The stage was one of intense fighting and was played between the fog and the rain. Pico Jano made its debut in a big way in the Vuelta, a dog day with lots of rain and narrow and very dangerous descents. A breakaway soon formed and the Quick Step hardened the pace of the peloton.
The Ukrainian Mark Padun (EF Education-EasyPost), plunged into an open grave at Collada de Brenes, but lost time on the descent and his attack was unsuccessful. With just enough strength, the platoon headed for Pico Jano. Padun was doomed and Jay Vine jumped 10 kilometers from the top, with no capo paying much attention to him. He was no match for the overall.
Who started the battle of the roosters was Simon Yates, the champion of La Vuelta in 2018, who launched an unsuccessful first broadside at 9 kilometers. And, after that the attacks were chained. The strongest, as expected, was that of an Evenepoel who left everyone except the Balearic Enric Mas.
Three-time champion Primoz Roglic withstood the initial onslaught, but he let go soon, too soon. A fourth consecutive victory no longer seems very likely.
Juan Ayuso, the pearl of Spanish cycling, debuting at the age of 19, started from behind in pursuit of Evenepoel and Mas. Its theoretical leader, Joao Almeida, had already dropped off the hook long before. He could not catch the outstanding duo, but his fourth place heralds a future with great things.
Vine won the stage. Evenepoel, second, is the leader with 21 seconds over Rudy Molard. Six days of Vuelta and six different leaders. Roglic has been displaced to 1:01. In this Vuelta everything happens.
