What a difference a mere few hours can make at a Grand Tour. Just this morning, when João Almeida announced his exit from the race due to a Covid positive, it appeared UAE Team Emirates’ Vuelta a España was in tatters. Almeida had emerged as the team’s primary GC hope after climbing his way up to third overall, only to tumble all the way down to 26th after being distanced on the final climb; today’s news explained what ailed him then, as well as ruling out any chance of him getting back into contention. With the rest of their star-studded roster even further down the overall rankings, nobody higher than Pavel Sivakov in twentieth at 7:07, it seemed there was no chance of the team that had already won both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France this year completing a Grand Tour clean sweep.
UAE Team Emirates wasn’t prepared to throw in the towel just yet, however, and now, following a bold, astonishing ride by Adam Yates, it’s game on again. After a difficult start to the race, Yates was in a hungry mood and, upon getting into the day’s break, set off alone on the first ascent of Alto de Hazallanas no less than 58km from the finish after his teammates Marc Soler and Jay Vine had whittled down the rest of the group. It was the kind of distance we’re used to seeing his teammate Tadej Pogačar attack from and was an immensely demanding feat to pull off, especially in the searing heat of southern Spain. Yet, not only did Yates make it to the finish, he did so with a massive lead of 3:45 over the red jersey group. “I never suffered like this before,” he said in between deep breaths at the finish, and so much was clear from the way he cried out for water after crossing the line. But it was all worth it for the reward of a magnificent stage win.
And not only that. The significant time gained also sees Yates leap dramatically back into GC contention, from a distant 27th at 9:27 to a very prominent seventh at 5:30. He might have been dismissive when the question was raised to him whether he was now back in GC contention, claiming to the interviewer that “honestly, I don’t give a sh*t about the GC today, it was all about the stage.” But, a rider of his quality and Grand Tour credentials will always be seen as a threat when that close on GC, and his ride today suggests that despite his ropey start, he has the legs to compete.
While Yates might not have had GC in mind today, his team principal, Mauro Gianetti, certainly did. “The motivation this morning,” he explained at the finish, “was [that] we're going to try and win a stage and, if possible, go back a little in the GC. Yesterday, it seemed everything was finished, but the Vuelta is long.” Once the dust has settled and his legs recuperated during tomorrow’s rest day, it’s clear that Gianetti’s instruction to Yates will now be: you’re now to target a podium finish on GC and perhaps even the red jersey.
UAE Team Emirates find themselves in an unfamiliar situation at this Vuelta. At the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France this year, their strategy was simple and straightforward: control the race for Tadej Pogačar. As the Slovenian had the legs to crush the rest of the field mano y mano, all the team had to do was to look after him, keep his nose out of the wind, and not let dangerous riders up the road. And they achieved all this with aplomb, never allowing their leader to wind up in a vulnerable situation and guiding him to overall victory in both.
Though their main man is missing from the Vuelta line-up, it was expected before the race that at least one of Yates and Almeida would push for overall victory and that their star-studded roster that also contained quality climbers Pavel Sivakov, Brandon McNulty, Jay Vine, Marc Soler and Isaac del Toro would be able to control the race in much the same way they did at the other two Grand Tours. But the way this Vuelta has panned out has seen them use this strength-in-depth not to strangle the race but rather to animate it. And the fact that circumstances have prompted them into this active, aggressive style could shape how the rest of this race unfolds.
Take today’s stage. Yates didn’t triumph today on the sole basis of his own efforts but also with the help of Soler and Vine. It was their tireless work that allowed him to pull out a big gap in the break and then set him up for his race-winning move on Alto de Hazallanas. With so many options on their roster, we can anticipate similar moves being made in the upcoming GC stages — in particular from Sivakov, who, in eleventh place at 7:11, could also feasibly be propelled back into GC contention as Yates was today.
All this could spell bad news for Ben O’Connor – his Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team already has a lot on their plate trying to defend his lead from the likes of Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Enric Mas (Movistar), who have both put him under direct pressure these past two stages. With the collective might of this UAE Team Emirates line-up now also aimed against them, do they have what it takes to stop more dangerous attacks going up the road like Yates today?
With a team strong enough to lead the race being forced to play catch up, and a team not expected to be leading the race now obliged to defend the red jersey, this Vuelta has shaped up fascinatingly, and we’re set for two more weeks of aggressive, unpredictable and chaotic racing.
