Stage 9 at La Vuelta presented another opportunity for the climbers to show their strength in the mountains with three difficult mountain ascents in the second half of the 178.5 kilometre stage. Despite the ascents coming later in the day, the fireworks kicked off early with a large and powerful breakaway of 26 riders forming which eventually included Max Poole and Gijs Leemreize but only after they had to put in a big effort to bridge across having initially missed the move.
Both crossed the gap and were present heading into the first of the three climbs, but the relentless pace set on the front of the break saw first Leemreize then eventually Poole lose contact with the small group left at the front before the top of the climb. From here it was damage limitation as the breakaway pushed on for the stage win and the GC favourites battled it out behind. The team set about conserving energy and getting home safely ahead of tomorrow’s rest day, before then looking ahead to the next week of racing.
After the stage, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Phil West said: “We had quite a tough start to the stage already with a fair bit of climbing – even if the profile didn’t look so much, the altitude was high. There was quite a bit of action here and in the end we were OK, but initially we were a little bit late in the move. But after jumping at last minute we made it over with Gijs and Max.
“They immediately got a good gap of almost five minutes into the first climb and we were in a good position, but as expected UAE pushed the tempo and although we were in the right spot, we ran out of legs. We can be happy that we were in the right place at the right time. That’s just a reflection of the level today. We now look ahead to the opportunities to come in the race with clearer goals ahead of us now.”
