"It is going to leave our legs aching" - Santiago Buitrago notes stage 10 has a harsh reality-check after first rest day

Cycling
Wednesday, 02 September 2026 at 01:00
Santiago Buitrago on stage 10 of the 2026 Vuelta a Espana
The undulating parcours of 2026 Vuelta a Espana's tenth stage promised a thrilling day of racing. And even though the finale did not disappoint in that regard, the vast majority of the day was raced in at a high pace, but without much action. Such turn of events did not surprise the mountains classification leader Santiago Buitrago.
The breakaway of the day set quickly after riders departed Alcaraz. A seven-rider group formed, but never gained a notable advantage over peloton which comfortably concluded their adventure with 5 kilometers to go, setting up a sprint for victory. That almost did not happen thanks to the attack of Yevgeniy Fedorov and Xabier Azparren, but ultimately it was Bastien Tronchon who celebrated his first Grand Tour stage win.
"We thought it was going to be tough for the breakaway; in the end, the breakaway got away quickly, but straight away the Visma | Lease a Bike team and the Cofidis team set a pace that the peloton found far from comfortable," the Bahrain - Victorious rider explained afterwards.

Rough welcome

To complete a stage with nearly 2,700 meters of elevation at an average speed of nearly 45 kph, that's not quite the warm welcome most riders had in mind for the first stage coming from rest day.
"It was a stage that is going to leave our legs aching – a good return to action in La Vuelta. Sometimes it’s hard to get back into the swing of things, but with stages like today’s, you get back into it quickly."
As for Buitrago's position in the polka dot jersey, today's stage was of the calmer ones with not many point on offer, and the upcoming stage 11 won't be very different in that sense. Therefore, the Colombian can save his matches for Thursday's stage, featuring two category 1 mountain sprints.
claps 0visitors 0
loading

Just in

Popular news

Loading