DISCUSSION - Vuelta a España Stage 10: Is the chaos producing unexpected winners due to the lack of a controlling force?

Enzo Paleni, Michael Gogl, Jasha Sutterlin, Fabian Weiss, Sinuhe Fernandez and Ivan Cobo formed the day’s breakaway, with Fredrik Dversnes later bridging across to make it a group of seven. Team Visma | Lease a Bike and Cofidis controlled the gap, which never exceeded three minutes.

The break began to fall apart before the Puerto de Socovos, where Gogl and Dversnes emerged as the strongest riders. Dversnes eventually continued alone before being joined by Inigo Elosegui, while several counterattacks followed from the peloton. Mads Pedersen was among the riders dropped on the climb.

Visma worked for Wout van Aert in the finale, with Matthew Brennan, Christophe Laporte and Sepp Kuss all playing a role. Walter Calzoni attacked late and forced Brennan into a long chase, before Yevgeniy Fedorov and Xabier Mikel Azparren tried to take advantage of the disorganised peloton inside the final kilometre.

Neither attack succeeded, and Bastien Tronchon timed his effort perfectly in the uphill finish at Elche de la Sierra. The Groupama - FDJ United rider claimed a surprise victory ahead of Magnus Cort and Thibau Nys, while Visma’s earlier control ultimately failed to deliver the result they wanted.

Carlos Silva of CyclingUpToDate closely followed the action on the Spanish roads after the race’s first rest day and shared his thoughts at the end of the stage.

The tenth stage of the Vuelta a Espana gave us a rather uneventful day. There was a brief fight to get into the breakaway, but the move was established quite early and remained under the control of the peloton throughout the stage. Its advantage never exceeded three minutes.

Cofidis and Team Visma | Lease a Bike took responsibility for controlling the gap. Cofidis had already won with Bryan Coquard and were clearly confident in their chances, while Visma could count on Matthew Brennan and Wout van Aert.

There was a possibility that the wind could cause damage in the exposed sections towards the end of the stage. However, the riders preferred to keep things under control and avoided taking unnecessary risks. We also did not see any major attacks on the final climb, perhaps because everyone knew that most of the remaining route was downhill.

The breakaway was eventually caught, and everything seemed ready for a bunch sprint. The final kilometre was fast, with the last 500 metres running downhill. Pinarello Q36.5 was particularly active and tried to surprise the sprinters’ teams by sending two riders on the attack. In the end, however, it was Bastien Tronchon who surprised everyone and raised his arms in victory.

This stage reinforced something I have noticed since Tadej Pogacar abandoned the race. There is no longer one team clearly leading and controlling the peloton at this Vuelta. Had Pogacar still been here, UAE Team Emirates - XRG would not necessarily have done all the work themselves, but they would have dictated how the race was ridden and handed some of the responsibility to Visma or the sprinters’ teams.

Instead, the race now feels completely chaotic. It is difficult to understand who is in charge, who wants to control the peloton and which team is prepared to take responsibility. Everything has become extremely unpredictable.

We cannot even confidently predict what will happen on stages expected to finish in a sprint. Tronchon spent the entire day hidden in the peloton and was barely noticed, but he still managed to surprise the biggest sprinting names in the race. That says everything about the current state of this Vuelta. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Rúben Silva of CyclingUpToDate shared his thoughts on stage 10 of the Vuelta a España immediately after the finish and said:

A day which showcased the best of Grand Tour racing. It wasn't a stage where a whole lot could be done, but the finale was quite exciting for the profile at hand. It was a sprint stage, for those who could survive the climbs - and that's what we got.

The final categorized climb of the day was attacked all-out by several riders which made it quite interesting; the breakaway was quite strong and threatened the peloton; and we even got some GC fight on that climb with Enric Mas and Richard Carapaz following Sepp Kuss in a climb that at the Tour de France would probably only give 1 point.

The finale saw several moves and that of Yevgeniy Fedorov could've well succeeded. The Astana rider nailed the timing and had the power, but the peloton had a few teams who saved themselves towards the very end. Groupama is a team I had seen almost nothing from in this race, but one who I remove from the list of criticism.

Bastien Tronchon is not an unknown, I know well what he could do, but it was formidable how Groupama set up that finale and the Frenchman won out of power, not luck. A sprint from afar with the sprinters on the limit and the puncheurs seeing who has the most power. A proper dramatic finale with a few secondary figures of the race getting a well deserved spotlight.

Javier Rampe of CiclismoAlDia was thrilled by the way today’s stage unfolded, as the peloton returned to the road following the first rest day of the race.

A day with a tricky finale, typical of the Giro d’Italia but not so much of Guillén and the Vuelta a España. I am glad that the Spanish Grand Tour is designing these kinds of finishes, which entertain the spectators and keep them on the edge of their seats until the very end.

Today, the guys in the breakaway gave it everything until the end of the day, but the pace, which was extremely fast throughout the entire stage, and the constant attempts from the main bunch meant that the leading group could not make it to the finish.

It was not to be for the breakaway, but neither was it for the sprinters, as a puncheur from smaller races emerged: Bastien Tronchon. The Frenchman from Groupama destroyed Wout van Aert after the umpteenth move by a pair of ‘outsiders’ on the tenth day of racing: Xabier Mikel Azparren and Yevgeniy Fedorov.

As for the Spaniards, a good performance from the Basque rider of Pinarello: he managed to stay on the wheel of the Kazakh from XDS Astana, but did not have the legs to beat him in the sprint. The general classification remains led for the third consecutive day by an imperious, so far, Movistar Team, which enjoyed a relatively quiet stage as far as its interests were concerned.

Stage 10 came alive in a dramatic and unpredictable finale. Although much of the day unfolded without major incident, the closing kilometres offered everything that makes Grand Tour racing compelling: attacks, uncertainty and a surprise winner. Bastien Tronchon took full advantage, timing his effort perfectly to defeat Wout van Aert and the other established fast men.

The stage also highlighted the absence of a dominant team capable of controlling the race following Tadej Pogacar’s withdrawal. The peloton has become increasingly chaotic, with no squad clearly willing or able to dictate proceedings. That uncertainty has made even the supposedly straightforward sprint stages difficult to predict.

Tronchon’s victory was certainly not merely a matter of luck. Groupama - FDJ United managed the finale intelligently, positioning its rider perfectly before he produced the power required to finish the job. The Frenchman launched his sprint from distance and proved stronger than both the sprinters and the puncheurs after a demanding run to the line.

The tricky finish, more commonly associated with the Giro d’Italia, ultimately delivered suspense until the final metres. The aggressive efforts of the breakaway and late attackers such as Xabier Mikel Azparren and Yevgeniy Fedorov added further uncertainty. This Vuelta may lack one controlling force, but that disorder is producing unexpected winners and increasingly entertaining racing.