David Gaudu wins atop Alto de La Farrapona as Primoz Roglic retained the overall lead

David Gaudu beats Marc Soler on mountain-top stage 11 finish at Vuelta a España

The hardest stage of the Vuelta so far traversed 170 km from the port city of Villaviciosa to the Asturian high mountains in northwestern Spain. With five categorised climbs, four of which were first category, including a challenging uphill finish at the Alto de la Farrapona, it was a day for the climbers.

Early attempts to form a breakaway were quickly thwarted by the peloton until 12 riders successfully got away after 40 km in the saddle. On the second climb, the leading group split, while Jumbo-Visma controlled the race in the main field.

With the start of the climb up the Puerto de San Lorenzo about 44 km ahead of the finish, some GC riders already ran into difficulties. The group of favouritesincludinf Primoz Roglic, had shrunk to 20 men with 10 km remaining.

On the steepest part of the final climb, David Gaudu and Marc Soler attacked from the 5-man leading group and eventually fought out the victory among themselves. 

The race favourites stayed quiet in the final ascent, reserving their energy for Sunday’s 12th stage, which ends at the top of the feared Angliru – a 12.4-km ascent at 9.9% with the last seven kilometres averaging a gradient of 13% and featuring a section above 20%.

Primoz Roglic retained the overall leader’s red jersey, tied on time with Richard Carapaz with Dan Martin in third place, 25 seconds behind.

Enric Mas is still Movistar’s best-placed rider in fifth place, 1:54 off the pace, 50 seconds ahead of team mate Soler. Gaudu climbed up to 12th, 5:02 behind Roglic.

VIDEO: 2020 La Vuelta Stage 11 Highlights

2020 La Vuelta Stage 11 Top 10

1 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 04:54:13
2 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 00:00:04
3 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 00:00:52
4 Mark Donovan (GBr) Team Sunweb 00:00:52
5 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 00:00:55
6 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana Pro Team 00:00:58
7 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation 00:01:03
8 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 00:01:03
9 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers 00:01:03
10 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 00:01:03

2020 La Vuelta Stage 11 Top 10

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 45:20:31
2 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers
3 Daniel Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation 00:00:25
4 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling 00:00:58
5 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 00:01:54
6 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 00:02:44
7 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:03:31
8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 00:03:44
9 Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain McLaren 00:03:54
10 Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott 00:04:43