Vuelta a Espana 2023 Stage 6 recap: Lenny Martinez in red as Sepp Kuss leads Jumbo-Visma masterclass

... with a stage win for Sepp Kuss while Frenchman Lenny Martinez took over the red jersey.

"I was feeling okay – just couldn’t speed up when the others went. I just had to hold my own pace. In the end it was 30 seconds slower than the fastest guys. I didn’t feel I was going really all-out, it was more of a controlled effort. But I just could not go over that limit. You just have some days like that and today it was my turn with not having the best legs.

"I needed to find my own pace and settle myself. The good thing is that I could speed up in the last two kilometres and still had something left for the last 500 metres as well. Like I said – if this was a bad day, then it’s okay. Let’s hope that was one of the worst days of these three weeks."

Just eight seconds separate the top two...

1. Lenny Martinez
2. Sepp Kuss +08
3. Marc Soler +51
4. Wout Poels +1:41
5. Steff Cras +1:48
6. Mikel Landa +1:58
7. Jefferson Cepeda +2:06
8. David de la Cruz +2:23
9. Remco Evenepoel 2:47
10. Enric Mas +2:50

Meanwhile, Jumbo-Visma duo Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic are up to 11th and 12th at 2:52 and 2:58.

"It was an incredibly hard stage. We wanted to try and go in the breakaway – just to test Quick-Step. We knew it would be a hard day to control so that was our primary goal. Dylan, Attila and Jan rode super – I have to thank them a lot for the work they did. For the whole day I felt super, super good. I was only thinking about when to go, when to try and make the distance. For the whole climb I was just enjoying the environment that we have in the Vuelta. It’s always a special race for me."

Mikel Landa and Marc Soler completed the top five, ahead of Poels, Rubio, Rodriguez, Cras and Cepeda. Meanwhile, Jumbo-Visma's leadership duo cross the line just under three minutes down, with Mas the next over and Evenepoel fighting back to reduce his arrears to around 30 seconds. It will be very interesting to see how things stand on the new-look GC once the dust settles on this one.

What a day from Jumbo-Visma - the stage win, another rider into the GC picture, their two top-dogs taking time from Evenepoel, but no red jersey yet to defend. Perfection.

Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) crosses the line around 27 seconds down for second place, a few seconds ahead of compatriot Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich). It will be enough for Martinez to swap white for red tonight.

The American doesn't seem too bothered about the red jersey because he eases up to high five some fans on the side of the road before crossing the line to win on the Pico del Buitre.

But the red jersey is almost one minute down on Roglic, Vingegaard and Mas. Kuss, meanwhile, is all smiles as he approaches the finish...

Sepp Kuss will win this stage - but will it be enough for the red jersey? His advantage over Lenny Martinez is currently around 25 seconds and 38 seconds separates them on GC. Factor in bonus seconds and it's going to be a close one.

Sepp Kuss has dropped Bardet and Martinez. And it seems like Rubio has also been dropped and distanced because it's the American who now leads. Meanwhile, behind Roglic has been joined by team-mates Vingegaard and Valter, the latter dropping back from the break. Vingegaard came over with Spaniard Mas - the only non Jumbo rider in this quartet.

The likes of Ayuso, Vlasov, Mas and Vingegaard have hoined forces in pursuit of Roglic, but the red jersey can't match their accelerations and he's being paced by Mattia Cattaneo, who has dropped back from the break, and has Geraint Thomas sandbagging his back wheel.

After French duo Bardet and Martinez ride clear in pursuit of Rubio, Sepp Kuss decides now is the time for him to roll the dice. The American makes it a trio in pursuit of the Colombian leader.

Then we pan back to the main GC contenders just in time to see Primoz Roglic surge clear. The triple Vuelta champion opens up a gap and Evenepoel has no answer for now. A great double whammy from Jumbo-Visma there.

The Colombian climber from Movistar won a stage in the Giro - the day he picked Thibaut Pinot's pocket - and he's the first of the escapees to strike out and make his move with just over four kilometres of this climb remaining. Behind, it's De la Cruz, Bardet and Martinez who lead the chase.

The likes of Vingegaard, Roglic, Mas, Thomas and Vlasov are all still there with Evenepoel, who has two QuickStep team-mates pacing him on the front of the main pack. But the gap is still 3'25" for the leaders, one of whom will win today's stage. Just 15 riders in the red jersey group now, with three each from Ineos and Bora bringing up the rear. Lazkano and Storer - who's job is done - are the latest escapees to be caught and passed.

It's the Australian from Groupama-FDJ - a double stage winner on the Vuelta two years ago - who is setting the tempo in the break, paving the way for his leader Lenny Martinez, who is a good bet for both the stage win and the red jersey today. The gap is still 3'37" for the leaders over the red jersey group.

Van Baarle, Romo, Herrada and Tratnik have all been distanced while Kamna is also struggling to hold on. Behind, the peloton has blown apart, too. In fact, it could well be smaller than the breakaway...

Our leaders have started the Cat.1 Pico del Buitre (10.9km at 8%) which has repeated double-digit ramps and a maximum gradient of 16%. The gap has grown to 3'50" for the 38-odd escapees in the breakaway that will surely blow apart very soon, with the cream of the climbing crop coming to the top.

We just saw two riders - from Cofidis and TotalEnergies - get swept up by the QuickStep-led peloton so the break is down to 38 or 39 riders ahead of the final climb. The gap is back up to 3'28".