Saturday’s action at the Vuelta a España saw the peloton take on the longest stage of the race, with a 200 kilometre route from Villafranco del Bierzo to Villablino. The main difficulty for the day was the ascent of Puerto de Leitariegos, a 23 kilometre climb with an average gradient of four and a half percent, which summited at around 17 kilometres to go. With it too easy for the GC riders, the main question pre-stage was if it would be yet another day for the break or one that might be controlled for some type of sprint finish.
It was a fast start with an hour of attacking before things eventually calmed down when a six-rider move clipped off the front. Behind the peloton set out their stall and began to set tempo, not allowing the breakaway’s advantage to grow any further out than two minutes and 30 seconds. As the kilometres progressed the gap began to dwindle and as they hit the final climb of the day it stood at just one minute. A strong but steady pace was set on the climb and the break was eventually caught, while it began a race of attrition in the peloton, with the team riding well as a unit to position Pavel Bittner as well as possible. Approaching the top of the ascent, Bittner just lost contact with the bag of the peloton but with the help from Martijn Tusveld he was able to return on the descent, where they joined up with Max Poole. With the fast finale approaching, Poole and Tusveld brought Bittner forward and dropped him off in a good wheel ahead of the last corner. The final straight then kicked up all the way to the line and despite giving it his all, Bittner had to sit back down in the saddle at around 200 metres to go; after a brilliant effort to even get there to compete for the finish.
Speaking after the stage Bittner expressed: “It was a fast and attacking start but when the group of six went, we knew already that Visma would control it and try bring it back. I actually thought they might have went a bit harder on the climb to get rid of some more guys, but in the end they managed to catch everyone from the break anyway. We wanted to see if I could get over the climb but it was really hard and at one point I didn’t think I’d get over. I just lost contact before the top but had Martijn with me and we made it back in the very first part of the descent. Max and Martijn did their best to try and position me but we had a bit of miscommunication at one point, but in the end I was in Van Aert’s wheel for the last corner. It was a long gradual drag to the line and I tried everything I could but just ran out of legs in the last 200 metres and had nothing left, so it wasn’t meant to be today.”