Today’s stage 11 had no winner due to protests at the finish in Bilbao. The organizers of the race decided that times would be taken 3 kilometers before the finish line. At that point, the overall leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) was at the front with Tom Pidcock (Q36.5), who had proven to be the punchiest on the final ascent of the day, the Alto de Pike. The Dane, whose teammates had controlled the stage from the start, retained La Roja ahead of stage 12 in Cantabria.
Race Highlights
Bilbao, a classic of the Vuelta a España since its first edition, was back on the map today with a punchy course, with a route that saw seven categorized climbs and no less than 3,185 meters of elevation.
The stage began with the ascent up the Alto de Laukiz, with attackers such as Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step) making early moves, but Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike kept a watchful eye on the pace.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) managed to open up a gap, with Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) trying to stay on terms with the Danish rider before being dropped at the base of the second climb of the day. However, Pedersen himself was later reeled in by the peloton. But he later attacked again, this time being followed by Marc Soler and Orluis Aular (both of Movistar).
Meanwhile, Visma-Lease a Bike kept the gap to around a minute, with Soler later going solo at bottom of the Alto de Morga with 80 kilometers to go.
From there, the Spanish rider opened up an advantage of 1’25’’, but his margin dropped on the ascent to Alto de Vivero, with Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step) bridging his way to the lone leader. But the duo was immediately caught by the peloton with 59 kilometers to go.
Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) was next to attack up the Alto del Vivero, later cresting the summit alone before being caught by Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) during the final 50 kilometers.
Behind them, a group of chasers emerged with Pedersen taking third in the intermediate sprint when the race reached Bilbao.
Back up front, Buitrago later went solo with 33 kilometers to go, who was eventually caught along the second ascent of the Alto del Vivero.
Not long after, race organizers announced that “due to some incidents at the finish line time would be taken 3 kilometers from the finish. We won’t have a stage winner. We will give the points for the mountain classification and the intermediate sprint, but not on the finish line.”
Meanwhile, Pidcock put the hammer down on the final ascent of the day. Vingegaard tried to follow, but he couldn’t keep pace with his British rival. But, the Dane managed to bridge the gap on the downhill, with the duo finishing together just a handful of seconds ahead of Joao Almeida, Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike).
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