photo credits @ Orica-GreenEDGE/Twitter
Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE) soloed clear during today’s final climb, to secure both his second win in this year’s Vuelta a Espana, as well as reclaim the overall lead from Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin).
Similar to his win during Sunday’s stage 2 to Caminito del Rey, the Orica-GreenEdge rider rode clear on the deciding third-category climb of the of the day, to take his second victory in the opening week of the Spanish Grand Tour.
The Finale
Having left Britain’s Steven Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka) – the last survivor of six escapees – for dead, Chaves crossed the line five seconds ahead of chasing duo Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) and Dumoulin.
A second victory for Chaves saw the 25-year-old swap his white jersey for red just one day after dropping behind Dumoulin in the overall standings. Chaves now leads his Dutch rival by 10 seconds in the general classification, with Martin moving above fellow Irishman Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) into third place at 33 seconds.
Roche finished in a group alongside Sky team-mate Chris Froome, 11 seconds down on Chaves after yet another sweltering day in southern Spain.
“I can’t believe it. It’s really unbelievable. It was a long, hot, hard stage today,” a beaming Chaves told Eurosport. “Midway I spoke to [team-mate] Mat Hayman and he told me, ‘If you have good legs, you race – because you never know what will happen tomorrow’.
“[Directeur sportif] Neil Stephens told me that the first bit of the climb was really steep so I knew where to make my move. Daryl [Impey] put me in a really good position and I started the climb in first position. When I saw the others suffering I went for it. “I will say again – the team is really amazing. Caleb Ewan won yesterday but today he went for bottles. This team is like a family for me. I’m so happy here.”
Race Highlights
The day’s breakaway group was marked by six riders, containing Peter Velits (BMC), Miguel Angel Rubiano (Colombia), Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida), Steve Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), and Niki Terpstra (Etixx-Quick-Step).
However, despite being out front for most of the stage, the escapees advantage had dwindled to under a minute – during the final 19 kilometers.
With less than 12 kilometers to go, and the peloton fast on their heels, Cummings decided to attack his breakaway companions.
Heading into the last 5 kilometers, Cummings was clinging to a 48 second lead over the chase.
However, the MTN-Qhubeka rider was soon caught, as Chaves attacked from the peloton and set off alone at the bottom of the final climb to Sierra de Cazorla.
Back in the chase, Giant-Alpecin was busy driving the pace, in hopes of defending Dumoulin’s overall lead.
Indeed, once the gradient relented, Dumoulin set-off alone in vigorous pursuit of Chaves.
From there, Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) was the next rider to attack from within the peloton, with less than a kilometer left.
The Irish rider eventually caught Dumoulin, but in the end, the duo failed to reach Chaves.
Stage 6 Results COL 1 CHAVES RUBIO, Jhoan Esteban (ORICA GreenEDGE) 4:46:16 IRL 2 MARTIN, Daniel (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 5 NED 3 DUMOULIN, Tom (TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN) ESP 4 PLAZA MOLINA, Ruben (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 11 ESP 5 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) ESP 6 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) GBR 7 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) POL 8 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF – SAXO) COL 9 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) IRL 10 ROCHE, Nicolas (SKY) ITA 11 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) ESP 12 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (ASTANA) COL 13 HENAO MONTOYA, Sergio Luis (SKY) ITA 14 POZZOVIVO, Domenico (AG2R LA MONDIALE) USA 15 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) ESP 16 BILBAO LOPEZ DE ARMENTIA, Pello (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) ESP 17 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) RSA 18 MEINTJES, Louis (MTN – QHUBEKA) POR 19 GONÇALVES, José (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) LUX 20 SCHLECK, Frank (TREK FACTORY RACING) ESP 21 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) ESP 22 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (KATUSHA) FRA 23 SICARD, Romain (EUROPCAR) ESP 24 SANCHEZ GIL, Luis Leon (ASTANA) + 20 USA 25 DOMBROWSKI, Joseph Lloyd (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) BEL 26 DE CLERCQ, Bart (LOTTO SOUDAL) COL 27 TORRES AGUDELO, Rodolfo Andres (COLOMBIA) ESP 28 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) FRA 29 ROSSETTO, Stéphane (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 24 POR 30 CARDOSO, Andre Fernando S. Martins (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 29 ITA 31 BRAMBILLA, Gianluca (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) ESP 32 ARROYO DURAN, David (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) + 34 USA 33 WARBASSE, Lawrence (IAM CYCLING) + 37 BEL 34 MONFORT, Maxime (LOTTO SOUDAL) FRA 35 SIMON, Julien (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 41 FRA 36 JEANDESBOZ, Fabrice (EUROPCAR) ITA 37 ROSA, Diego (ASTANA) + 44 NZL 38 BENNETT, George (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) USA 39 CRADDOCK, Lawson (TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN) + 49 POR 40 VILELA, Ricardo (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) + 56 FRA 41 BOUET, Maxime (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 58 ESP 42 VERONA QUINTANILLA, Carlos (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) FRA 43 ELISSONDE, Kenny (FDJ) + 59 ESP 44 LOSADA ALGUACIL, Alberto (KATUSHA) + 1:01 BEL 45 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 1:07 AUT 46 ZOIDL, Riccardo (TREK FACTORY RACING) FRA 47 COPPEL, Jerome (IAM CYCLING) + 1:08 ESP 48 MADRAZO RUIZ, Angel (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) + 1:18 COL 49 DUARTE AREVALO, Fabio Andres (COLOMBIA) + 1:22 ERI 50 BERHANE, Natnael (MTN – QHUBEKA)
General Classification after Stage 6 COL 1 CHAVES RUBIO, Jhoan Esteban (ORICA GreenEDGE) 21:55:13 NED 2 DUMOULIN, Tom (TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN) + 10 IRL 3 MARTIN, Daniel (TEAM CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 33 IRL 4 ROCHE, Nicolas (SKY) + 36 ESP 5 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 49 ESP 6 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (KATUSHA) + 51 GBR 7 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 55 ESP 8 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) + 56 COL 9 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) + 57 ITA 10 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) + 1:08 ESP 11 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (ASTANA) + 1:12 ESP 12 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) USA 13 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 1:16 ITA 14 POZZOVIVO, Domenico (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 1:19 COL 15 HENAO MONTOYA, Sergio Luis (SKY) + 1:27 POL 16 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 1:29 ITA 17 BRAMBILLA, Gianluca (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 1:43 ESP 18 SANCHEZ GIL, Luis Leon (ASTANA) + 1:44 RSA 19 MEINTJES, Louis (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 1:51
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