Jumbo-Visma continues to impress in the 2023 season, today making a huge leap towards a La Vuelta GC win with their three team leaders Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss and Primož Roglič finishing 1-2-3 on the Col du Tourmalet, while their main threat Remco Evenepoel lost 27 minutes on the stage and ended his GC hopes.
It was by far the hardest Vuelta stage of this edition, with Col d’Aubisque, Col de Spandelles and Col du Tourmalet (West Side) in a single stage. The mountains made famous by Le Tour de France were a big test for all of the riders. Early in the stage there were signs that Joao Almeida was not feeling well, alongside Remco Evenepoel, both dropping on the first big mountain of the day, the Col d’Aubisque. The Belgian had an off-day at the worst moment and lost his GC hopes completely.
Aubisque was paced very hard as the GC group did it in 44:07 minutes with 5.84 ᵉW/Kg. Break formation also contributed to an extremely high pace already on this first high mountain of the day. Australian Michael Storer was the fastest on the climb with a time of 43:30 min and 6.02 ᵉW/Kg. Record holder Michael Rasmussen did Aubisque in the 2007 Tour in 43:18 min, only a little bit faster than KOM point chasers in La Vuelta 2023.
After Aubisque, Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss, Mikel Landa and Damiano Caruso went on a descent raid and opened a gap over the peloton where UAE-Emirates were forced to chase hard. They gained a 40 second advantage before Spandelles but were caught with Finn Fisher-Black working well for his team leader Juan Ayuso. The Roglič group did Spandelles in 31:45 min with 5.79 ᵉW/Kg. This is 1:48 min slower than Vingegaard and Pogačar in the 2022 Tour before the Hautacam but there was still left the final big climb of the day, Col du Tourmalet.
The GC group riders already had spent a lot of energy before the Pyrenean giant, with Steff Cras spending 3,105 kilojoules for 3:02h, which is 15.43 kj/kg/h. A short and intensive stage with a huge power output on the big climbs. There was a small headwind on Tourmalet but not enough to stop these riders breaking climbing records.
After Remco Evenepoel’s downfall it was Jumbo-Visma’s big chance to put more time on their main rivals Enric Mas and Juan Ayuso. With eight km to go, Vingegaard launched his first attack which was closed but the Dane attacked again soon after, and this time Mas could not close the gap immediately. Ayuso was marked by Roglič and Kuss who were sitting in the small GC group with Cian Uijtdebroeks trying his best to keep up with the leaders. Mikel Landa later joined the group with Mas and Ayuso chasing the Tour de France winner who had opened a decent gap. Marc Soler, Aleksandr Vlasov and Steff Cras were in Group 3 trying to consolidate their GC position as best they could.
Ayuso and Mas were not too happy with chasing Vingegaard while his teammates enjoyed the slipstream. With 5.5 km to go Mas attacked the group but the GC leader Kuss was on his wheel. The American Eagle was flying as he later dropped Mas with an acceleration but the Spaniard closed the gap and was annoyed by Jumbo-Visma tactics and stopped riding, with Ayuso bringing them both back. Vingegaard was still in the lead and the gap was getting closer to a minute. The tactics by Mas and Ayuso attacking each other benefitted the Dane as they did not work together to set a steady tempo.
The Jumbo-Visma show was only just getting started, as Kuss launched on the steep section of Tourmalet at the end. At first he needed to brake, as a spectator was blocking the road, but after he got clear air Kuss flew past everyone.
Vingegaard won the stage by 30 seconds while in the end Kuss and the other GC riders brought back some seconds in the final kilometre. Roglič finished third on the stage, dropping Ayuso, Uijtdebroeks and Mas, making this a historic Jumbo-Visma 1-2-3 on a big mountain stage in La Vuelta. With Almeida losing almost seven minutes on the stage and Evenepoel 27 minutes, Ayuso and Mas are the biggest threats to the Dutch team. Kuss’ lead in the GC is 1:37 min over Roglič and 1:44 min over Vingegaard. There are left some hard mountain stages but this Grand Tour looks like it will end with Jumbo-Visma sweeping the podium.
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Jonas Vingegaard broke the Col du Tourmalet via D917 record which was previously owned by Thibaut Pinot. The Frenchman in 2019 did the climb in 51:10 min with 5.87 ᵉW/Kg. Pinot drafted almost the whole climb and had a tailwind while Vingegaard attacked early into a slight headwind. The Dane produced 6.09 ᵉW/Kg for 50:47, making this one of the greatest performances of his career after a very intensive day on Aubisque and Spandelles.
Jonas Vingegaard is having an all-time great season with dominating performances in Basque Country, Criterium du Dauphiné and of course the Tour de France. If he wins La Vuelta it might be one of the very best GC seasons of all time but Sepp Kuss will probably need to crack for Vingegaard to win La Vuelta. The Tourmalet is a high altitude climb, finishing over 2,100m, and adjusting his performance for altitude it is in his Top 3, behind his Cote de Domancy time-trial and Col du Tourmalet (East side) final 3 km in the 2023 Tour. Marie Blanque, Puy de Dome, Croix de Fer and Izua-Arrate are his other best career performance, all of which were produced in 2023.
Que ayudas ergogenicas llevan los Jumbo?