Tour of Spain | Not even five ports break the Roglic-Carapaz tie

The Giro d’Italia reached the final time trial with two riders tied in time overall: Tao Geoghehan Hart and Jai Hindley. More uncertainty was impossible. The Vuelta a España started its queen stage this Saturday in an identical situation, with two cyclists tied in the classification: Primoz Roglic and Richard Carapaz. And in the same way he left La Farrapona. Cycling is lately measured by blinks.

I open a paragraph: the choice of the queen stage is always subjective. In this edition, that label was hung on the Tourmalet day, scheduled a week ago, but once suspended due to the shaking of the pandemic, the Asturian chained Cobertoria-San Lorenzo-La Farrapona he accumulated enough toughness to inherit that crown. Other opinions, however, point to Angliru, a rise that by itself concentrates all the Sunday interest. Matter of taste.

Stage queen or not, that each one chooses, the fact is that Roglic and Carapaz arrived tied, because the judges considered the day before in Suances that between the Slovenian and the Ecuadorian group there were three seconds of difference. Ineos disagreed with this application of the regulation and with the communication of the norm, which was changed on the fly, and led in the morning a plant at the start, to Unipublic’s shock. And what was the Vuelta’s fault for the jury’s decision? The protest prompted a subsequent clarification from the UCI. All for three seconds. This is cycling.

The Ineos de Carapaz proved in the offices what it could not do on the road. Without the potential of a strong team around him, beyond Andrey Amador’s daily work, the Ecuadorian did not formulate any plan to unseat Roglic in a day that had plenty of ground for one or the other to have taken off. The Jumbo controlled the stage, without letting the day’s breakaway go too far, and led its leader to the Asturian finish line. It tastes like little. The duel is postponed for this Sunday in Angliru, an ascent with such hard ramps, that it does not allow great differences, although it sounds contradictory. Or maybe for the time trial on Tuesday in Ézaro, another finish with a clean hunk. Or, why not, for La Covatilla Saturday, where will the tie break?

The only brave proposal was carried out by Movistar, once again. Marc Soler attacked in the penultimate port, La Cobertoria, and linked with the escape, where he was taking his partner Nelson Oliveira. The Catalan started at 3:52 minutes from the red jersey, so his attack had a triple objective: to return to the fight for the general classification, seek the stage victory and wear down the Jumbo before the possibility of a subsequent action by Enric Mas. The Jumbo, however, did not take the bait. And he followed his own, leading the platoon and his boss, Roglic.

The stage was in a heads up between Marc Soler and David Gaudu, the winner of the 2015 Tour del Porvenir against the 2016 champion. The future that is already present. Or aspire to be. The triumph was taken by the Frenchman from Groupama, who makes his debut in a big one at the age of 24. The 26-year-old Spaniard, who already opened the can in Lekunberri, made a mistake with a 500-meter start, too far with the headwind, and had to settle for second place and his comeback in the general from tenth to sixth place, 2:44 from the red jersey. That is not little, given what the rest of the rivals did.