"It’s the best legs I’ve had all Vuelta" - Mattias Skjelmose and Mathias Vacek happy with near-win at Vuelta a Espana

Mathias Vacek is a rider with a strong sprint but he is not a bunch sprinter. After a super and shocking second place in the starting time-trial he rued the lack of attacks and hard pace over the opening sprint stages, but last afternoon in Córdoba he found the perfect stage for his abilities. If it were not for an even stronger Wout van Aert, the Lidl-Trek rider would've quite possibly taken the stage win in the final sprint.

Mattias Skjelmose reflected on what was a good day for him and the team, in a press release: “For sure, it’s the best legs I’ve had all Vuelta, so I’m happy. After all the work Mathias did the other days, it’s a small thing to give back.” Skjelmose maintains his 10th spot in the overall classification, gaining some time on Florian Lipowitz who is ahead but seeing riders like Cian Uijtdebroeks fall down the GC after BORA pulled out all the stops to make the short Alto del 14% a difficult climb.

The GC group had been split completely, and eventually came back together for the final kilometers where Visma and BORA controlled into a sprint. Vacek was one of the 33 riders who survived the climbing and was in position to battle for the stage win, which in itself is already a strong performance. And a stage win was possible... “We came back just after the downhill and I relaxed a bit. Then Mattias Skjelmose brought me in the perfect position behind Van Aert," Vacek explains.

He was the closest competitor to van Aert but in the final sprint the Belgian proved to be the strongest, and reinforced his advantage in the green jersey competition. “It’s been a long preparation for the Vuelta, and so far so good. There are a lot more stages coming up," the Czech rider assures.