Max Poole battles to 3rd place after strong break support from Chris Hamilton and Gijs Leemreize

After Tuesday’s stage for the breakaway, Wednesday also looked like a good opportunity for the attackers once more with a hilly stage that started and finished at Campus Tecnológico Cortizo Padron. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL set out with the goal once again of trying to make the break and ideally have multiple options and cards to play in the move.

It was a fast start to proceedings as expected with lots of attacks from the flag drop as group after group tried to go clear. It took over 50 kilometres and several incarnations before a large group of over 30 riders broke free with Gijs Leemreize, Chris Hamilton and Max Poole riding excellently to make the split for Team dsm-firmenich PostNL. With no immediate threat to the race leader’s jersey, the gap slowly grew and with just under 50 kilometres remaining it stood at six minutes, so it was clear that those in the break would fight for the stage. With original lone-attacker Meurisse caught, things became a bit tactical and coming onto the final steep climb of Puerto Cruxeiras a counter attack that featured Gijs Leemreize gained around 20 seconds on those behind.

The stinging gradients saw the front of the race split to pieces and two-riders from Leemreize’s front group forged on, while behind Hamilton then Leemreize himself did a great job to position Poole. In sight of the top of the climb, Poole sprung from the chasers and managed to make contact, forming a trio out front as they crested the ascent. However, on the valley roads inside the last two kilometres the remnants of the break managed to regain contact with Poole’s trio and a front group of 14 charged into the final kilometre. Things became tactical with a few probing attacks before eventual stage winner Dunbar launched a well-timed move. With no one wanting to chase, Poole himself put in a serious dig from the back of the group and launched off in pursuit. Fighting all the way to the line Dunbar held on for the win while Poole just got rolled by Hermans in the sprint for second; nonetheless taking a strong third place for the team as he continues coming back from his opening week crash.

Speaking at the finish Poole expressed: “I think it was nice to finally be in the race again after my big crash on the first day, and I’ve actually been trying to come through a bit of sickness recently. It was really nice just to be able to race the bike and be out in the break with Chris and Gijs, so it was a fun day actually. I managed to bridge across on the climb to the two front guys but it came back with the group from behind and then it became a bit tactical and a game in the final. Credits to Eddie, he made a strong and well-timed attack. There was no pace in the group after that so I tried to get out and just go long and see if I could catch him. In the end I got rolled for second place on the line, finishing third, but that’s racing.” 

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Phil West added: “It was another good day where we tried to race positively. We enjoyed a very typical Vuelta fight for the breakaway today and in the end we were there with three guys in a big break, which is what we had set out to do. Importantly we had guys who could finish over a hard parcours with some tough climbs. Once we were there it was really about making sure we came into the final climb in the front of the bike race in a good spot. We wanted to ride the climb in a good way so that we could make a selection, and over the top Max was there with two other guys. Unfortunately, it came back together in the valley but you can’t fault the grit that he showed in the final to also do a really strong and long sprint. That’s the kind of racing we want to do and are looking forward to more of that in the coming days. It was also a fantastic team effort from all the guys to make sure we had the break under control and had the right guys in there, so our sprint guys and rouleurs played a big role in making that happen so credits to them today too.”