Primož Roglič launched a powerful attack on the Puerto Cruixeras climb in La Vuelta Ciclista a España Stage 11, but despite his strong effort and the challenging headwind, he finished in the same group as several GC contenders, while Eddie Dunbar claimed the stage win from a breakaway.
It was a medium mountain stage, featuring the steep Puerto Cruixeras (2.8 km at 9.0%) at the end. A perfect 8-minute climb for Primož Roglič and Red Bull – Bora Hansgrohe to launch the Slovenian. Pavel Sivakov in the peloton spent 3,308 kilojoules before the climb, over 3:31 hours at a rate of 13.73 kj/kg/h. Although it was a stage of medium difficulty, it posed no serious challenge for the riders, given their high carbohydrate fueling. It was evident that a breakaway group of 30+ riders would likely take the victory and all the bonus seconds, but Red Bull still gave it their best shot.
Red Bull started the Puerto Cruixeras climb at a furious pace, with Roger Adria, Giovanni Aleotti, and Aleksandr Vlasov leading the group. After Vlasov finished his pull, Roglič attacked, with only Enric Mas able to follow. The strong attack put pressure on the race leader, Ben O’Connor, who was dropped from the second GC group and left alone with Roglič’s teammate Florian Lipowitz on his wheel. Dani Martinez, who was in the original breakaway, was standing by on the climb, waiting for Roglič.
At the top of the climb, despite Roglič’s impressive performance, Mas, David Gaudu, and Mattias Skjelmose were still with him. Roglič, facing one of the strongest headwinds in recent years on a climb, pushed 7.72 ᵉW/kg for 7:50 minutes, while Mas, drafting behind him, saved 0.18 ᵉW/kg. The average speed was 22.67 km/h at an 8.82% gradient in the very strong headwind. With relatively fresh legs, a strong start, and a perfect low-altitude climb, Roglič delivered one of the greatest ᵉW/kg performances on a sub-10-minute climb. However, due to the optimal conditions, other riders like Gaudu, Skjelmose, Landa, Sivakov, Carapaz, and Rodriguez were also able to push 7.39 – 7.51 ᵉW/kg. O’Connor lost 28 seconds to Roglič on the climb, with 7.13 ᵉW/kg.
Despite the historic effort, Roglič finished in the same group as Landa, Mas, Gaudu, Rodriguez, and Skjelmose, who were working against O’Connor. After the climb, in the final kilometers, they extended their lead to 38 seconds over the Australian, who had strong support from teammates Felix Gall and Clement Berthet in the chasing group.
The stage was won by Eddie Dunbar from a breakaway. The Irishman was not the fastest sprinter, but he timed his attack from a larger group perfectly, gaining a huge gap that was enough to secure his first Grand Tour stage victory. Quinten Hermans, who might have been the fastest in a bunch sprint, lost two seconds to Dunbar.
Results powered by FirstCycling.com