ANALYSIS | 5 keys to the incredible stage 6 of the Vuelta a España 2023: from a sublime Jumbo to the indefatigable Evenepoel and Ayuso

The sixth stage of the Vuelta a España was spectacular. To begin with, it was highly criticized by many fans who are not fans of single-climb stages, but once it was shown that the route is important, but that the attitude of the riders is even more so. We now highlight 5 aspects that we can draw in conclusion from the historic day.

1. The Jumbo-Visma strategy.

Remco Evenepoel publicly declared that he would like to be stripped of the red jersey and that led to the formation of a very large breakaway of candidates to 'steal' it. Among them, several Jumbo-Visma with Sepp Kuss as a strategic weapon. The breakaway, of more than 40 units, exceeded 7 minutes of advantage and 'forced' Soudal, Movistar and INEOS to work so that the difference did not get out of hand.

The outcome on the final climb to Pico del Buitre was as desired for Jumbo: victory for Sepp Kuss without taking the red jersey and an attack from behind by Primoz Roglic that ended up being followed by Jonas Vingegaard to take time off the rest of the favorites. Now they have Kuss with the overall lead and their two leaders showing that they are the strongest. Everything went perfect for them.

2. The fighting ability of Ayuso and Evenepoel.

Primoz Roglic attacked on the final part of the Pico del Buitre and behind Juan Ayuso tried to follow him with Jonas Vingegaard and Enric Mas on his wheel. Remco Evenepoel stayed directly behind and the UAE youngster followed soon after. Roglic, Vingegaard and Mas went off and it looked like Remco and Juan were going to lose a lot of time. However, both showed their class and, once the bad moment was over, they reacted and ended up minimizing the losses (that's why Ayuso almost caught the two Jumbo riders at the finish line).

3. The unknown of Mikel Landa.

Mikel Landa is not in his best form, but tactically he seems to be riding this Vuelta with more intelligence than in the Tour de France. Yesterday he slipped into the breakaway and entered the finish line fourth behind only Kuss and Frenchmen Lenny Martinez (new leader) and Romain Bardet. He is now sixth overall ahead of all the favorites. If he magically regains the strength of the beginning of the season, where he competed at the level of the best, he could end up fighting for interesting things.

4. The tactical incapacity of INEOS.

INEOS Grenadiers already played in the last Giro d'Italia to do nothing, to not take advantage of the fact that they had men like Tao (before falling) or Thymen Arensman among the first, to hurt their rivals. Yesterday, more of the same. They didn't put Arensman in the breakaway (he should have been in like Kuss) and they ended up doing what they always do: pull back, waste energy and then, given that Geraint Thomas is not in great shape, get nothing at the finish. With the same tactic as always and with worse riders than your rival, it's impossible.

5. Enric Mas and his final downturn.

Enric Mas was the only one to hold off Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard during almost the entire climb to Pico del Buitre. However, cycling is not about how you start, but how you finish. And Enric finished badly. He fell apart in the last kilometer and lost 24 seconds to the Jumbo in just 500 meters. He can't afford that kind of birdies if he wants to win the Vuelta someday. After Movistar's great start he had a precious lead of half a minute that would have been great for the time trial. Now he has lost it. It's difficult for him to win with these rivals if he continues to be so inconsistent.