"In the end, they took almost no time on me" - Juan Ayuso saves the day by pacing himself wisely on the summit finish

Juan Ayuso was just unable to hook up with Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard on the final climb in a tough mountain stage of the Vuelta a España. The young Spaniard fought back well in the last kilometer and stranded seven seconds behind the Jumbo-Visma duo.

After a few relatively quiet sprint stages, it was a full house race at the Vuelta on Thursday. On the mercilessly grueling course, the riders ensured a spectacular race, which eventually led to a huge leading group of almost forty riders. "It was a brutal stage," Ayuso said afterwards to Esciclismo, among others.

On the final climb it was Roglic who opened the ball with the classification riders. "When Roglic attacked, I tried to follow him. When I noticed that it wasn't working, I decided to keep to my own pace."

The limited loss to the Jumbo-Visma leaders made Ayuso satisfied. "In the end, they took almost no time on me." However, there was a big setback for UAE, Jay Vine went down for the umpteenth time this year and had to stop the game. "We were in a very good position with several riders in the standings. His fall and subsequent abandonment are a sin."