Dan Martin has had a mixed day at La Vuelta; gaining time on Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) but seeing other general classification men get away from him on the final climb of stage 6 in the rain.
When Pyrenean climbs had to be removed from today's stage due to Covid-19 restrictions in France they were replaced with the Formigal summit finish, which didn't disappoint.
While a large number of breakaway men survived out front to fight it out for stage honours - Ion Izagirre of Astana winning that battle - the real action was in the favourites' group just behind.
Just inside the final 5km, race leader Roglic was exposed as only one of his team mates, George Bennett, was in the group to ride on the front. That led to a series of speculative attacks from the favourites' group by some of the GC riders.
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David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ) attacked from the favourites' group with about 5km to go, on the wheel of his team mate, Bruno Armirail, with David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates) also jumping around the same time.
When it became clear Roglic was unwilling, or unable, to respond, it became a free for all; riders in the favourites' group attacking from it as some of the breakaway men were being caught, leading to a chaotic situation in the rain and mist.
Marc Soler (Movistar) also had a go from the favourites’
group and soon Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and Hugh Carthy (EF Pro
Cycling) joined the aggression.
All the while Roglic was in a small core of riders – the remains of the favourites’ group – with Dan Martin and a couple of others for company.
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Martin (Israel Start Up Nation) dropped Roglic with just
over 1km to go, but the riders who had attacked earlier were long gone and
gained time on him.
While Carapaz made most of the running up front, seizing
a golden chance to put time into Roglic, it was actually Carthy who proved
strongest; attacking Carapaz and getting clear of him.
In the end Carthy finished in 8th place, some 48 seconds
down on the stage winner, with the gaps after Carthy the most important part of
the stage result.
Gaudu, Soler and Carapaz finished side by side, some seven seconds down on Carthy. Dan Martin was 35 seconds down on Carthy and Roglic was another 15 seconds back.
The stage result meant Carapaz seized the race leader’s
jersey and now leads overall by 18 seconds from Carthy, with Martin now 3rd at
20 seconds and Roglic dropping from the race lead to 4th, at 40 seconds.
Enric Mas (Movistar) finished 5 seconds behind Roglic today and he is 5th overall, at 1:07, with the race now much more open as it goes in the rest day. Any suggestion that Roglic would dominate from start to finish is now already ended.
For Martin the result was mixed; the Irishman stronger that some of the big name riders but perhaps watching Roglic too closely today and paying the price as some of the other GC threats were more willing to take the initiative and attack as the finish line neared.
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