06/09/2023

Breakaway success for Jesus Herrada on stage 11 of the Vuelta a Espana

Jesus Herrada has taken victory on stage 11 of the 2023 Vuelta a Espana, climbing to a brilliant win from the breakaway.

Very similar to the ninth day of racing, stage 11 is a complicated day mostly due to its finale. It's a stage that features little climbing but has a slight summit finish. This time in Burgos at La Laguna Negra, it's an explosive finale where several can contest the win.

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After a long fight and a very fast start to the stage, a massive, 26-rider breakaway eventually formed. Notable riders included in the break were stage 10 winner Filippo Ganna alongside INEOS Grenadiers teammate Geraint Thomas. Romain Gregoire and Rudy Molard were also involved, as was Luis Leon Sanchez among many others.

Although Thomas was over 13 minutes down at the start of the day, Jumbo-Visma weren't keen on allowing him too much time back, keeping the gap at around four minutes.

As the race neared that looming, final climb of the day though, the gap between break and peloton had stretched out to more like 6 minutes.

With just over 14km to go, Julius Johansen of Intermarché-Circus-Wanty attempted to launch an optimistic attack off the front of the break which unsurprisingly led to nothing.

Next to try his luck was Paul Ourselin. Having been able to successfully make a gap stick, he was at one point 30 seconds clear.

Once Ganna began to set a pace for Thomas however, Ourselin was quickly caught and then joined the numerous riders dropping out the back of the lead group.

The big Italian powerhouse had finally had enough with just under 2km to go it was Jonathan Klever Caicedo who attacked first, quickly followed by Thomas.

Eight riders were together into the final kilometre as Caicedo attacked yet again, this time getting a gap. Thomas was again leading the chase behind, with the rest of the group attempting to follow.

Jesus Herrada's attack finally bridged the gap to Caicedo, dropping Thomas and all other challengers in the process, taking victory ahead of Gregoire and Andreas Kron.