The Dane Jonas Vingegaard repeated his victory this Saturday in O Gran Camiño, with a new exhibition in the stage that ended in Ribadavia (Ourense), where he crossed the finish line with almost half a minute ahead of the chasing pack led by the Galician Carlos Canal (Movistar).
Nobody coughs on the double Tour de France champion in the Galician round. Ezequiel Mosquera, his director, bet heavily on the presence of Vingegaard and the leader of Team Visma Lease a Bike is not failing him. Yesterday he signed a colossal victory and today from the beginning of the stage he made it clear that he was going to give his all to get back on the podium.
Vingegaard enjoys the Galician roads, despite the cold and rain. Here he began his assault on the Tour in 2023 and this year he repeats the tactic. Neither Bernal, nor Carapaz nor Tarling could stand him. Nor a heroic Pablo Castrillo, who after 80 kilometers of escape surrendered to the devastating pace of the Dane.
More than 130 kilometers from the finish line, Vingegaard already sent a message by getting into a group that also included Bernal, Gaudu, Tarling and Carapaz, among others. It didn't take long for the platoon to catch up with them.
Shortly after, Etxeberria, De la Cruz, Silva, Andreas Piccolo, Murguialday, Langellotti and Pablo Castrillo formed a group that dreamed of playing for victory among themselves when they found themselves more than six minutes ahead of the peloton.
His dream lasted as long as Visma wanted. Vingegaard's team increased the pace when his boss ordered it and little by little began to close the disadvantage. At Alto do Couso, Vingegaard accelerated to finish the work of his teammates. No one in the peloton could follow him, and little by little the double Tour champion began to hunt down the cyclists who were ahead.
Only Castrillo endured. But not too much. Vingegaard is so ambitious that he took the risk to hunt him down and score his second victory in as many stages - the first did not count towards the general classification due to bad weather. The Dane is the king of O Gran Camiño, his race.
The Spanish Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), born in Barcelona and resident of Xàbia (Alicante) since 2010, has won the Faun Ardeche Classic, a 168.6 kilometer race starting and finishing in Guilherand-Granges, in which He surpassed his breakaway companions in the finish.
Ayuso, who opened the chapter of victories of the season and added the fifth of his career, preceded the Frenchman Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ), the Dane Matthias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and the Austrian Felix Gall ( Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).
It was a new demonstration of race management and knowing how to handle very dangerous rivals, with whom he escaped with about 25 kilometers from the finish line and whom he won in a tremendously close sprint with a final time of 4h23:34.
The peloton arrived four seconds behind the quartet led by the Belgian Maxim van Gils (Lotto Dstny) and the American Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich) and with the also Spanish Igor Arrieta (UAE) tenth.
Ayuso is the first Spaniard to win this classic and takes over from the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, while Skjelmose repeats last year's third place.
