The time trial in Jerez did not turn the race upside down. If anything, it tightened Enric Mas’s grip on the red jersey. Felix Gall lost second place to Primož Roglič, yet everything remains open for the Austrian ahead of the last two days in the mountains – second overall is within reach, and so is slipping out of the top three.
Roglič came up short on the clock
The 32.1 kilometres from El Puerto de Santa María to Jerez de la Frontera were billed as Roglič’s last real opportunity. The four-time Vuelta champion finished fourth on the stage and took 33 seconds out of Mas – nowhere near enough. At the second time check the Slovenian was 36 seconds up, but Mas held his rhythm through the closing kilometres and crossed the line 12th.
The stage went to Stefan Küng. The Swiss covered the flat course in 35:22, an average of 54.4 km/h. Callum Thornley finished around three seconds back, with João Almeida third.
Gall drops to third but stays in the podium fight
Felix Gall paid the price everyone had expected in Jerez. The Decathlon CMA CGM leader conceded 1:28 to Roglič and gave up second overall. Finishing 26th on the stage, though, he was only two seconds slower than Richard Carapaz – a solid return given the pre-stage expectations. Gall said afterwards that he had ridden a clean time trial and had in fact braced himself for a bigger loss to Roglič.
The general classification now reads: Mas leads from Roglič (+1:37) and Gall (+3:01). Carapaz sits fourth at 5:17, Oscar Onley fifth at 6:03. Gall therefore has more than two minutes in hand on the riders behind him – and needs 1:24 to reclaim second.
Peñas Blancas and Collado del Alguacil will decide it
Today brings the longest stage of this Vuelta: 210.8 kilometres from Vélez-Málaga to Peñas Blancas. After a flat opening along the coast, two categorised climbs follow in the middle section before the race drops back to Estepona and climbs from sea level to 1,270 metres. The final ascent measures 18.8 kilometres at an average of 6.5 per cent.
Saturday is considerably harsher. Stage 20 packs more than 5,000 metres of climbing into 187 kilometres, takes in Puerto de El Purche twice and finishes on Collado del Alguacil. It is the only climb of the entire race rated Categoría Especial: 8.3 kilometres at 9.8 per cent on a narrow, twisting road that reaches around 20 per cent at its steepest. No Grand Tour has ever tackled it, which means nobody in the peloton knows what is coming.
That leaves Roglič with the high mountains as his only avenue of attack. It is precisely there that Mas has been the strongest man in the race: he gained time on his rivals at Alto de Aitana, Calar Alto and Sierra de la Pandera alike.
Gall can rewrite Austrian cycling history
Gall would be the first Austrian ever to stand on a Vuelta podium. In May he finished second at the Giro d’Italia behind Jonas Vingegaard, making him only the second Austrian to reach a Grand Tour podium at all – the first was Adolf Christian, third at the 1957 Tour de France. Two Grand Tour podiums in a single season is something no Austrian has managed before.
