La Vuelta 2020 Stage 10 - As it happened

Updated 30/10/2020 at 16:44 GMT

La Vuelta a Espana 2020 – The 185km Stage 10 along the undulating Cantabrian coastline was always going to prove a tough task for a breakaway, and in the end even the sprinters suffered as Primoz Roglic stamped his authority on the race to take back the red jersey after securing a third win on this Vuelta.

Primoz Roglic of Slovenia and Team Jumbo - Visma Green Points Jersey / Andrea Bagioli of Italy and Team Deceuninck - Quick-Step / Felix Grobschartner of Austria and Team BORA - Hansgrohe / during the 75th Tour of Spain 2020, Stage 1

Image credit: Getty Images

Overruled: Roglic confirmed as new leader

The jury overturned that decision and so Primoz Roglic is now level with Richard Carapaz and takes over the red jersey by virtual of his three stage wins.

Vuelta a España

'There's a lot of anger' - Roglic involved in crash on Stage 12

00:02:14

26/08/2021 at 15:20

Carapaz still in red... for now

Oddly, it seems like the organisers have overturned that three-second gap, which means Richard Carapaz is still in red. Let's wait and see if that one is overturned. There was clearly a gap between the two GC favourites...

Here's how Roglic nailed his hat-trick

Primoz added a third win after his earlier successes in Stage 1 and Stage 8. What a rider. He's basically a Peter Sagan who can both climb and time trial with the best. Unstoppable? Let's see. By Sunday night and that rendez-vous with the Angliru we'll have a much better idea of whether Roglic can win back-to-back Vuelta titles.

Stage 10 top 10

Roglic won comfortably ahead of Felix Grossschartner and Andrea Bagioli, with Alex Aranburu and Robert Stannard completing the top five. The first eight got the same time as Roglic, and then the gap has been given at three seconds. Carapaz, incidentally, crossed the line in 14th place.

Roglic in red?

The gap was given as three seconds there... and that would put the Slovenian in red by virtual of his superior stage count over Carapaz. To be confirmed...

Victory for Primoz Roglic!

Guillaume Martin, the polka dot jersey, surged clear with 500m to go before Carapaz drew level. But the Slovenian in green was just biding his tiime - and rampant Roglic powered through to take his third stage win of the race, plus another 10 bonus seconds. There were splits there... will he be in red?

Final Kilometre

Jumbo-Visma brought Roglic to the front but it's now been taken up by Astana and Caja Rural as we start this climb to the line...

2km to go: Bora take it up

After shirking all pace-setting duties all day, Bora-Hansgrohe now have a man on the front alongside some Lotto Soudal riders. The road now goes downhill on that technical drop before the final rise.

3.5km to go: Back together

Cavagna is caught and it's still Amador driving the tempo for Carapaz, in red, on the front. We can't rule out some of the GC guys going for it today - Roglic, for instance, possesses an uphill kick.

5km to go: Cavagna goes clear

The Frenchman drops Oliviera on another uphill rise and the Portuguese has popped. Ineos now on the front with Carapaz in third wheel as the pack sweeps up the UAE Team Emirates rider. With Bennett bust, can Cavagna deliver for Deceuninck? It's unlikely for the gap is still tiny.

6km to go: Bennett on the back

Sam Bennett is back with the peloton, but rooted to the back so we can definitely discount the Irishman for the win today. A slender gap for these two leaders still as Ineos and Astana lead the chase.

10km to go: Cavagna and Oliveira on the attack

After some pacing from Ineos Grenadiers, Willie Smit (Burgos-BH) enjoyed a little foray off the front before the South African was reeled in following a one-two from Remi Cavagna and Ivo Oliveira over the crest of that last climb. This duo is now out ahead with a gap of 10 seconds.

15km to go: All over for the break

Lotto Soudal have now come to the front en masse following the capture of the breakaway. Are they working for Tim Wellens? He's capable of winning a stage like today from the break, but surely not if it comes down to a mass arrival. Perhaps the Belgian is going to go for a long-pop, using this next climb as a launchpad?

18km to go: Froome to the fore

Double Vuelta winner Chris Froome has now come to the front to work for his Ineos Grenadier leader Richard Carapaz. After his disappointing opening few days, Froome has been much more solid for Ineos - he's really earning his keep while fulfilling his domestique duties on his Grand Tour comeback. Just 10 seconds now...

21km to go: Carrots almost cooked for the leaders

Astana and Mitchelton-Scott have two riders apiece on the front as they drag the peloton up another sweeping uphill drag. There's been lots of disguised climbing today - on paper it looked pretty straight forward, but there will be some super tired legs in the pack tonight ahead of the real mountains this weekend. Just 20 seconds now for the four leaders.

26km to go: Bennett dropped again

The Irishman, who has been pedalling squares for the past hour, had been distanced on another one of these leg-sapping uphill rises on the Cantabrian coastline. This time, the elastic may have snapped.

Bennett's earlier struggles

Here's a snippet from Sam Bennett in the pain cave earlier on.

'Sam is slugging at the moment' - Bennett struggles to cling on during climb

30km to go: Just 90 seconds

What was once a lead of 11'50" is now down to 1'30" for these four escapees. The rolling coastal roads have really taken their toll on their legs and their time out ahead will be over very soon. Molenaar is putting in a dig though, perhaps in a bid to win the combativity award today.

40km to go: Bennett on a bad day

Although his Deceuninck Quick-Step teammates are on the front, Sam Bennett is really struggling on the back of the pack. Every time the road goes up hill, the Irishman slips back. It's painful to watch - no one has dropped back to join him, and that's not a good sight. Maybe he just hasn't got the legs, or he's ill. Whatever the case, Bennett must have told his teammates to press on without him, because that's exactly what they're doing. The break is now at 3'10".

QuickStep could well be working for Andrea Baglioli today, or Zdenek Stybar. They're clearly not working for Bennett.

49km to go: Van Moer wins sprint

The Lotto Soudal rider is being a bit greedy - not content with the KOM over the climb he's now kicked on to win the intermediate sprint ahead of Molenaar and Ligthart. Talking of which, here's a sneak preview of the last 2km of today's stage.

52km to go: Terpstra takes it up

Which is odd, because his Total Direct Energie teammate Pim Ligthart is in the four-man break. But the Dutchman Niki Terpstra is perhaps a little bored and is pushing it on this fast sweeping stretch of road following the climb. He's reeled in and now rides near the front alongside Astana. The gap is 3'45" for the break.

58km to go: Bennett in trouble

Yesterday's winner-not-winner Sam Bennett is struggling off the back of the peloton on this climb. The Irishman looks in a world of pain as he strives to keep in touch of the field - the pace of which, incidentally, is being driven by his Quick-Step team. He should be okay, but it doesn't bode well for the finale because there are more undulations between here and the line, not least the ramped finale itself.

60km to go: Van Moer takes KOM points

The Belgian kicks clear to take the points over the top ahead of Dutchman Molenaar. Neither of them are a factor in the blue polka dot jersey standings, which is being led by the Frenchman Guillaume Martin with 27 points - three more than Sepp Kuss and Richard Carapaz.

65km to go: Alto de San Cipriano

The break is approaching the only categorised climb of the day, the Cat.3 Alto de San Cipriano (4.3km at 5%). Their gap is down to four minutes so it's only a matter of time now.

72km to go: No sign of Bora-Hansgrohe

Pretty negative tactics from the Bora team of Pascal Ackermann, who was awarded the win yesterday following Bennett's DQ. The German team didn't help out in the chase yesterday - and that probably explains the huge gap the break got today: QuickStep refused to be played again. In any case, DQS have now taken it up with Mitchelton-Scott and Astana - working for their respective sprint options Bennett, Dion Smith and Aranburu.

But Bora are refusing to lend a hand once again, which will annoy some when they no doubt come through to contest the finale...

The gap, meanwhile, has come down to five minutes.

82km to go: And now 6 minutes

It continues to come down for these four leaders, who have seen their gap pretty much halved in the last 30-odd kilometres. Here are some stats on this move. I'd have to admit that the finale will be more spectacular if it's been contested by an entire bunch rather than four relative unknowns.

92km to go: Just 7 minutes now

The break is onto one of these many leg-sapping uphill steps along this picturesque coastal route. Their gap is down to 7:10 for the four leaders with the peloton, behind, all strung out. Astana and Mitchelton-Scott have a man each on the front, with Quick-Step tucked in behind.

2021 Vuelta to start in Burgos... from inside the cathedral

It was announced yesterday that La Vuelta 2021 will start on August 14th 2021 with an individual time-trial from inside Burgos Cathedral. The riders will go through the main entrance ahead of a "urban circuit" set to illustrate the "monumental character of the city" on the 800th anniversary of the church. They will go past the castle before they return to towards the cathedral, where the TT will end.

"It will be the first time a cycling race starts from inside a cathedral", announced the general manager of La Vuelta, Javier Guillén, unsurprisingly.

105km to go: Astana lend a hand

The gap is well under nine minutes now - having peaked at almost 12 minutes. The Astana team of Alex Aranburu - who is suited to today's ramped finish - have joined Mitchelton-Scott and Deceuninck Quick-Step on the front. The pace is definitely up now.

115km to go: Gap coming down

Two minutes has been shaved off the break's lead in the last 15 minutes so perhaps it's not quite a lost cause. The riders are going through Somo, which is on the eastern side of the Bay of Santander. As for Bennett's chances, this morning he was wary of the ramped finish: "Today looks pretty hard, pretty steep in the finale, so hopefully my legs don’t blow up before the end."

120km to go: Mitchelton-QuickStep lead the chase

Deceuninck Quick-Step and Mitchelton-Scott combine to lead the chase on the front of the pack even if it seems like the peloton has collectively allowed this one to go today. A lot can change very quickly - especially given the length of the stage and the terrain towards the finish - but if QuickStep want to give Sam Bennett a chance at instant redemption, they're going to have to pull out their finger sooner rather than later. The gap comes down a shade to 10:30.

135km to go: 11 minutes for break

The gap continues to grow: 11 minutes now following the return of Paluta into the pack. This is by far the biggest advantage held by any break so far in this Vuelta - beating the previouys largest gap of six minutes for the break on stage 2 between Pamplona and Lekunberri. (Thanks ProCyclingStats for this valuable nugget of information.)

At this rate, one of these four riders will take the win today. Two of them have never won a professional bike race: Van Moer and Lastra. The veteran Ligthart has six career wins and Molenaar has two.

145km to go: Paluta throws in the towel

Looks like I was wrong. Michal Paluta has decided he's making no in-roads here and so he's taken his foot off the gas to drop more than five minutes back. The break - Dutchmen Ligthart and Molenaar, the Belgian van Moer, and Spain's Lastra - now have 8:30 on the pack.

150km to go: Looking good for the break

The four leaders have still not been caught by the lone chaser, Paluta, who is 1'25" in arrears and no doubt wondering where it all went wrong. He shouldn't give up, mind, because the peloton is more than six minutes down on the leaders, for whom Lastra is the best-placed on GC, almost an hour down on Carapaz's overall lead.

Points jersey conundrum

While we're on the topic of Roglic and the green jersey, my colleague Tom Owen wrote a nice piece about the Vuelta's need to shake up their points classification. Unlike the Tour or the Giro, the points classification in the Vuelta awards consistency across the board as opposed to appealing to the sprinters. You have to go back to 2014 and John Degenkolb for a sprinter winning green in Madrid - and the German is hardly your archtype fast man.

The intermediate sprints are worthless because you need to win seven to pick up the equivalent of a single stage win, and there's no co-efficient at the finishes, meaning every stage has the same number of points up for grabs. Given that most stages on the Vuelta finish on ramps or at the top of a mountain, that plays further into the hands of the cliimbers and GC man. Basically, the green jersey is just a watered-down red jersey competition. Well, that's Tom's view in this piece, here:

It’s time to fix La Vuelta’s points jersey

No gilet for Roglic today

He may have looked like a Teenage Mutand Ninja Turtle of late, but Primoz Roglic is in classic green today as leader of the points classification. Sunshine and a clement temperature of 17 degrees means the Slovenian is not wearing yellow arm warmers and a blue-yellow gilet on top of his points jersey tricot - much to everyone's benefit.

If you missed what Roglic looked like earlier on in the race, then I have posted a picture below for your eyes only. Apologies in advance. I also wrote a little bit about the Slovenian's sartorial style (or lack of) in a little piece following rampant Roglic's second stage win a couple of days ago. Link below, too.

Roglic's armoury making his red rivals go green with envy

Primoz Roglic - Vuelta 2020, stage 7 - Getty Images

Image credit: Getty Images

165km to go: Four clear now

Two uncategorised climbs have brought a bit of order to things. We now have four out ahead: Van Moer, Ligthard, Lastra and Molenaar. They dropped Paluta on the last climb and the Pole is 55 seconds adrift but 55 seconds clear of the pack, which swept up that Cavanga chase group. Phew. There's definitely a Lowlander vibe to this quartet out ahead; Lastra must feel like he's racing a cobbled classic without the cobbles.

Carapaz still in red, but Roglic primed

There were no changes yesterday in the general classification with Primoz Roglic, after his second victory of the race on Wednesday, still 13 seconds down on the red summit of Richard Carapaz. Dan Martin is third and Hugh Carthy fourth - 28 and 44 seconds respectively in arrears.

175km to go: Shuffling in front of the pack

Lastra has managed to join those four leaders to make it five out ahead. Jauregui was caught by Wright and this duo were also joined by Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Martin Salmon (Sunweb) and Victor Lafay (Cofidis). So we have five now chasing the five leaders, but this fast start has seen the gap back to the peloton come down to just 40 seconds - so the road hierarchy is still far from being established.

180km to go: Two chasers

Quentin Jauregui (Ag2R-La Mondiale) and Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) are trying to bridge over to the leaders, who now have one minute on the pack. There's another riders who has also zipped clear of the pack - Britain's Fred Wright (Bahrain-McLaren).

185km to go: Attacks from the outset

Four riders have gone clear shortly after today's start. They are: Michal Paluta (CCC Team), Brent Van Moer (Lotto Soudal), Pim Ligthart (Total Direct Energie) and Alexander Molenaar (Burgos-BH). They open up a small gap of 20 seconds.

Hola, amigos! Stage 10 under way...

The riders have rolled out of Castro Urdiales to get this 185km stage going. It's a tough one to call - the final third of this stage features some climbs and rolling roads, plus there's a ramped finish so it may not suit the pure sprinters. Here's what's in store...

Stage 9 recap: Ackermann (in the end)

What looked to be a routine bunch sprint erupted into a fair bit of controversy yesterday... Miss Sam Bennett's barge-inspired win and subsequent disqualification? Catch up with the highlights!

Highlights of Stage 9 - Bennett relegated as Ackermann rivalry cranks up a notch

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