2020 Vuelta a Espana – Stage 11 – Highlights, Report, Results
Highlights
Report
Today, David Gaudu made another step in his – young – career. The French climber was looking forward to it for so long, and it finally came on the Vuelta on Saturday. In what he considered to be the queen stage of the 2020 Tour of Spain, the 24-year-old rider has today conquered his very first win on a Grand Tour. Furthermore, he did it in a mountaintop finish, which is a first for him since he turned pro. Beating Marc Soler on the line after a long breakaway and the invaluable support from Bruno Armirail throughout the day, David Gaudu brought the first win to Groupama-FDJ on this Vuelta and also climbed to 12th overall.
“We’ll need to interpret the race well and maybe get one step ahead if the opportunity arises”. These words from Thierry Bricaud on Thursday evening clearly echoed during stage 11 of the Vuelta today. Quite soon, Bruno Armirail already tried to get in some moves although the first breakaway of eleven riders went without him. However, the race circumstances – and the battle for the KOM jersey in particular- led the peloton to continue pushing. Therefore, all was brought back together in the Alto de la Colladana, the first of the four first-category climbs of the day. At that point, David Gaudu and Bruno Armirail then forced the course of destiny. “In the bus this morning, we considered that I would go up front, and that Bruno would come with me”, explained the French climber. “It’s not always easy to do what you aim for, but we managed to get in the front indeed”. “We plan a strategy in the briefing, but to see it realizing itself is something completely different”, confirmed Thierry Bricaud. “It was pretty much the scenario we would have liked to see occurring, and it worked out perfectly. The breakaway eventually formed on that first big climb after fifty kilometers, which was actually good for us since we had a better chance of putting David in there.”
At the top of this very climb, the Groupama-FDJ’s young leader was together with his teammate and six other riders. However, the peloton never really let go and just sat two minutes behind the day’s breakaway. Marc Soler took advantage of this small margin to bridge across on the next climb, the Alto de la Corbeteria. His teammate Nelson Oliveira and Bruno Armirail then give their all in the more rolling parts of the route. “We knew that Bruno is going very well and that he could play his part, so that the break would go far but also so that David could save some energy until the bottom of the final climb,” said Thierry. “This is what happened, he did a really great job”. “We managed to channel Bruno the right way in order that he could be useful in the finale,” smiled David. “He did a huge job and completely sacrificed himself for me. At some point he came to tell me that he’s taking his last turn, then he dropped back… but he came back again! I can say a big thank you to him today”. Although the bunch never stopped pulling because of Soler’s presence at the front, the breakaway still managed to keep a good collaboration over the kilometers and climbs to get to the bottom of the Alto de la Farrapona with a three-minute lead.
Bruno Armirail gave what he had left on the first slopes of this final ascent and then left David Gaudu battling against Marc Soler, Guillaume Martin or Michael Storer. The Spaniard made the first attack but the Frenchman managed to follow quite easily with five kilometers to go. “We knew Soler was strong, but the first goal was for the two to make a gap, so to be sure to go for the stage,” explained Thierry. The duo quickly took a 30-second lead and then stayed wheel-to-wheel until the last kilometre. “David hesitated to attack or to go for the sprint”, told Thierry. “We know he can do good punchy little sprints up the hills. He took that option and he did well.” “I know I have a lot of punch, that I’m doing very well in this kind of finish,” added the rider from Brittany. “When Marc Soler attacked 500 meters from the finish, I saw that he sat down quite quickly with the headwind. I waited for the last 150 meters and gave it my all. I saw he was dropped with 75 meters to go and I understood that I got it. From then on, it was just about happiness.”
The 24-year-old young man noticeably showed that happiness on the line, with his gestures and with his voice. “It was a scream of relief because I had been struggling for a few days,” he explained. “It was also a difficult season, we really struggled for three months and we failed at the Tour de France. We came on this Vuelta with a very combative spirit, and even if Thibaut had to abandon, we remained united and committed since the start. Today, I wasn’t necessarily feeling very well at the start but I ended up winning here. It’s something exceptional. I got my first WorldTour victory last year. Today, I took my first win on a Grand Tour, at the top of a mountain moreover. This is a first for me, and I did not do it ahead of just anybody. It means a lot to me and I hope it is only the start. Anyway, this is also a reward for the whole team for their work from the start of the Vuelta”. “David has had a tough season, so it’s important to be able to finish it on a high note, even if the Vuelta isn’t over,” said Thierry. “We can now say that this Tour of Spain has been successful, but like what we did on the Giro: now that we got one, why not get a second? That will be our state of mind. If we can get a final top 10, that would be great too, but the real goal is to get another win.”
Results
Stage
| 1 | David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 04:54:13 |
| 2 | Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team | 00:00:04 |
| 3 | Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb | 00:00:52 |
| 4 | Mark Donovan (GBr) Team Sunweb | 00:00:52 |
| 5 | Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis | 00:00:55 |
| 6 | Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana Pro Team | 00:00:58 |
| 7 | Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation | 00:01:03 |
| 8 | Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team | 00:01:03 |
| 9 | Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers | 00:01:03 |
| 10 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma | 00:01:03 |
General Classification
| 1 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma | 45:20:31 |
| 2 | Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers | |
| 3 | Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation | 00:00:25 |
| 4 | Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling | 00:00:58 |
| 5 | Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team | 00:01:54 |
| 6 | Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team | 00:02:44 |
| 7 | Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | 00:03:31 |
| 8 | Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team | 00:03:44 |
| 9 | Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain McLaren | 00:03:54 |
| 10 | Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott | 00:04:43 |
Points
| 1 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma | 135 |
| 2 | Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation | 91 |
| 3 | Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers | 90 |
| 4 | Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis | 70 |
| 5 | Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | 54 |
Mountains
| 1 | Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis | 50 |
| 2 | Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma | 24 |
| 3 | Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers | 24 |
| 4 | Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 22 |
| 5 | Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation | 20 |
Young Riders
| 1 | Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team | 45:22:25 |
| 2 | David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 00:03:08 |
| 3 | Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana Pro Team | 00:04:53 |
| 4 | Georg Zimmermann (Ger) CCC Team | 00:22:43 |
| 5 | Gino Mäder (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling | 00:23:34 |