Vuelta a España stage 11: Jesús Herrada wins atop La Laguna Negra

Jesús Herrada (Cofidis) danced to victory on stage 11 of the Vuelta a España, surging clear from the day’s breakaway at the top of the punchy final climb to La Laguna Negra.

The Spaniard, who also won a stage of the 2019 Vuelta, produced a late surge to shut down a longer-range move from Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost) before moving clear and holding off the rest of his rivals in the final double-digits ramps.

Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) crossed the line in second place a few seconds in arrears, followed by a weaving Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny). Caicedo had to settle for fourth place ahead of Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), whose teammate Filippo Ganna had controlled the group for much of the final climb, only for the Welshman to fade in the final throes.

"I couldn't be happier," said Herrada. "You try and you try and sometimes it comes off and sometimes it doesn't. It was very complicated to make the break and it was a big group with some strong riders. I felt good in the end, and it was a good final for me. I saved my sprint until the last 300 meters and I pulled it off."

There was no major general classification action on the final climb, just a contained final dash for the line as the reduced peloton came home almost six minutes down on the winner. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) led that late charge, shutting down speculative attacks from Cian Uijtdbroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe), Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma) to ensure that he and his main rivals all finished on the same time in a group of 20.

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) was present and correct to earn himself a fourth day in the red jersey, with a lead of 26 seconds over Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) and 1:09 over third-placed Evenepoel.

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Sepp Kuss ensured the red jersey stays on his shoulders

A big breakaway day

This was a stage that many escape artists had marked in their roadbooks, with a largely flat 155km followed by one short sharp climb, La Laguna Negra, measuring 6.5km at 6.8% but kicking up into the double digits in the final 1,500 metres.

With widespread appetite for the breakaway, plus a whiff of crosswinds, the peloton flew out of the traps and ran off the first 50km in little over an hour.

It was Ganna, victorious in the stage 10 time trial the previous afternoon, who had a big hand in forcing a move clear, as 26 riders finally detached themselves with 55km on the clock. The biggest name was the rider Ganna would be there to serve, Geraint Thomas, who was already well out of the GC battle and looking to turn around a Vuelta littered with misfortune.

Read more: Geraint Thomas 'limited' in Vuelta a España stage 11 breakaway but vows to keep fighting

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Filippo Ganna played a big support role for Geraint Thomas

Joining the Ineos duo - as well as Herrada, Grégoire, Kron, and Caicedo - up front were: Dorian Godon, Nicolas Prodhomme, Damien Touzé (AG2R Citroën); Luis León Sánchez (Astana Qazaqstan), Lukasz Owsian (Arkéa-Samsic), José Manuel Diaz, Eric Fagúndez, Pelayo Sánchez (Burgos-BH), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Sean Flynn (dsm-firmenich), Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost), Rudy Molard, Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Julius Johansen (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Jan Maas (Jayco AlUla), Jacopo Mosca, Otto Vergaerde (Lidl-Trek), Jorge Arcas (Movistar), Alan Jousseaume and Paul Ourselin (TotalEnergies).

Jumbo-Visma took control of the peloton as the race settled down, pegging the gap below the six-minute mark but never threatening to chase to try and bring the stage victory into play. The race therefore made its way quietly to the finale, passing an uncontested intermediate sprint in Vinuesa with 20km to go before the infighting began among the escapees.

Johansen launched a pair of early attacks, while Ourselin went further with a move just ahead of the start of the Laguna Negra climb, but Ganna came back to the fore to take the race by the scruff off the neck. On the relatively gentle lower slopes, the Hour Record holder set a burning pace, bringing Ourselin back with 5km to go, by which the group had been cut down to size by two thirds, the only ones able to follow being Thomas, Herrada, Grégoire, Molard, Kron, Caicedo, Sánchez, and Prodhomme.

Ganna continued his effort all the way to 1,500 metres to go, where the steeper ramps began, and Thomas was then presented with a more chaotic situation. The Welshman quickly shut down Caicedo’s first flyer but the second saw a much bigger gap open up and he eventually resigned himself to dragging it back single-handedly.

With 300 metres to go, he’d pretty much done that job, but he had nothing left, and he faded dramatically. Herrada, meanwhile, opened the taps and surged into the lead, timing his effort to perfection and holding off the challenge of Grégoire and Kron.

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Jesús Herrada recovers from the effort beyond the line

Ayuso crashes but otherwise a quiet GC day

In a stark contrast to the breakaway battle, the peloton rolled up the first portion of the final climb at a snail’s pace, spread across the road with no sense of urgency.

Uijtdebroeks and Carthy sensed an opportunity to claw some time back, but saw those efforts come to nought as the pace naturally picked up on the upper reaches of the climb. Evenepoel kicked off the dash for the line a couple of hundred metres out, and the main favourites were all out of the saddle, but it wasn’t an all-out effort, and there was no concerted inclination or expectation to gain time.

It was interesting to note that Kuss was the first one onto Evenepoel’s wheel in a springy response, followed by his teammate Primož Roglič, while the third member of the Jumbo-Visma trident, Jonas Vingegaard, was a few places further back.

There were no changes to the general classification, and perhaps the main GC incident was a crash for Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) before the race had even begun. The Spaniard crashed inside the neutral zone and had to gingerly pick himself off the tarmac before visiting the medical car for treatment on his shoulder once the race had calmed down, but the Spaniard was well enough to finish just ahead of Vingegaard in the GC group.

The Vuelta continues on Thursday, with stage 12 offering a flat parcours but one that’s notoriously exposed to crosswinds through the plains of Zaragoza.

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