NOS Cycling•
Summary Vuelta-stage 12: UAE trailer Ayuso strikes from monster flight
Juan Ayuso has booked his second stage victory of this round in the twelfth stage of La Vuelta. The Spaniard gives the UAE team, which he leaves after this season, thus all the fifth day success in this Tour of Spain.
After an attack from a leading group of more than fifty riders, Ayuso won co-airer Javier Romo (Movistar) in a sprint-à-deux in Los Corrales de Buelna. In the run -up to his decisive attack, Ayuso was helped by teammate Marc Soler, a bright spot during the fight divorce of the talent and his team that he still described this week as “dictatorship”.
The classification men left each other alone today, for them it was no more than a transition stage on the way to the tough stage of tomorrow with arrival at the Alto de l’Angliru.
Palestinian flags
After the tumultuous day of yesterday, the Vuelta-Peloton started in Laredo. Apart from a lot of flag display, it remained calm there, just like 144.9 kilometers later in the Los Corrales de Buelna finish place.
Conversation of the day nevertheless remained yesterday’s demonstration. The eleventh stage in Bilbao was neutralized on Wednesday and did not get a winner because Pro-Palestinian demonstrators made a safe finish in the center of the Basque capital impossible.
Classification leader Jonas Vingegaard was one of the many riders who made his care and wishes to safely continue. “I hope we can ride cycling races, because this is the wrong place to do something like that. What do they want from us as cyclists? I can’t do anything at all.”
The Israel Prime Minister Tech team, partly the target of the demonstrations, remains in the game despite the resistance. Today the riders of that team did that in the shelter.
Monster flight
The much -discussed cycling team was the only one that was not represented in the flight of the day. Striking, because given the size of the group, the conclusion could be drawn that it was not too difficult to get along in the attack.
No fewer than 52 riders succeeded in escaping the peloton in the first part of the hilly stage. They formed the flight of the day, in which all teams (21) were represented on Israel Prime Minister Tech.
With almost a third of the number of riders that had started in the attack, there was no check for what remained from the peloton. That wasn’t necessary either. The Visma-team of Rodetruidrager Vingegaard had good in the bulls who all went along and saw no serious threat to the rankings.
And so the monster flight was allowed to fight for the day’s victory. Mads Pedersen confessed the altimeters to pick up points for his green sweater at the intermediate sprint and eventually finished fifth.
On the steep flanks of the Collada de Brenes, the last climb of the day, the better climbers were then able to make their way. After an introduction by teammate Soler, it was Ayuso who showed himself the strongest and drove to the head of the race. In countryman Javier Romo (Movistar) he found a strong supporter to stay out of the hold of the rest.
Until the last kilometer, the Spaniards worked together to let anyone return. Ayuso (22) then refused to take over and left the Romo four years older in the sprint.
The Frenchman Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R) benefited the most from the calm peloton, which admitted about six minutes to the refugees, and climbed to sixth place in the general classification.
