13/09/2023

Primoz Roglic wins at Alto de l'Angliru as Roglic and Vingegaard take time on Sepp Kuss

Jumbo-Visma was in full control on the Alto de l'Angliru. Primoz Roglic won the stage, whilst he and Jonas Vingegaard dropped Sepp Kuss and taken time on their teammate in the overall classification.

The day was very tough, but had a pan-flat start. A situation which did not favour a breakaway, but eventually a few riders went up the road after many attempts. Remco Evenepoel did not go about and once again put in very big digs to form the group, eventually he was only joined by teammate Mattia Cattaneo and Groupama-FDJ's Lorenzo Germani.

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Eventually the Soudal - Quick-Step duo set off on their own, Cattaneo pushed through into the base of the Alto del Cordal where Evenepoel was left by himself in front. Marc Soler in the meantime had attacked in the peloton on the first ascent, gaining a gap of around 1:30 minutes maximum.

Bahrain - Victorious hence began to push in Cordal to make the catch, having big numbers in the front of the peloton. The gap to Evenepoel, which was around 3 minutes at it's peak, began to lower. Soler was caught soon after the summit as the peloton began to lose serious numbers, all in preparation for the final ascent.

Evenepoel began the final climb with 1:30 minutes as Bahrain maintained their position. The catch was made with 5.5 kilometers to go. The work of Wout Poels slowly decimated the group, one by one climbers were dropped, including Juan Ayuso and Enric Mas who could not even match the Jumbo-Visma riders, attacking was not an option.

Mikel Landa's presence in the front five-rider had Poels in front, but with 3 kilometers to go Primoz Roglic hit the front and the race quickly changed. The Barhain riders were dropped, the Jumbo-Visma trio found themselves in front. However shortly after Sepp Kuss was also dropped, with Jonas Vingegaard following Roglic.

Sepp Kuss arrived at the finish line 18 seconds after, defending his red jersey amidst another set of unusual tactics, together with Mikel Landa who had a superb day on the bike.