Vuelta Week 1

Stage 1 came down to a sprint finish with Jasper Philipsen taking the stage honours and the lead in general classification, exactly what he did at the Tour de France earlier in the year. The breakaway took the KOM points on offer with Alessandro Verre leading at the end of the stage.

The second stage was won by Jonas Vingegaard in the form of a sprint of a small group ahead of a larger bunch by 2 seconds. None of the other GC contenders lost more than a few seconds. Vingegaard took the lead in the GC as well as the KOM competition as a by product of winning the stage after a late crash which saw him it the deck along with multiple other riders from the peloton as well as his own team.

Stage 3 went to David Gaudu ahead of Mads Pedersen in a sprint finish with Vingegaard coming third possibly aiming to get the bonus seconds and extend his lead. Gaudu and Vingegaard were left on the same time with the Dane still in red due to countback. Vingegaard was also left leading the points classification due to the third place with Jasper Philipsen, the best placed of the sprinters, in fourth.

Another bunch sprint to finish on stage 4 with Ben Turner taking the win for INEOS Grenadiers, Jasper Philipsen took second. Mads Pedersen crossed the line in 6th but took maximum points at the intermediate sprint as part of the break. David Gaudu took over the lead in the general classification with there still being no time gap between first and second.

Stage 5 saw a team time trial where Vingegaard would be looking to put time into his rivals. Visma did not get the best result, they finished second 8 seconds behind UAE who moved up into second in the teams classification as well as placing riders in second, third and fourth on GC behind Vingegaard, all 8 seconds down. David Gaudu moved down into 6th, 16 seconds down on the leader. The second most highly placed rider for Visma, Matteo Jorgenson moved up into 7th.

The break made it all the way on stage 6 with Joao Almeida leading the GC favourites over the line 4:19 behind the winner Jay Vine. UAE took their second stage at the Vuelta making it 2 in a row, Jay Vine gained 24 points in the KOM competition as well as the jersey itself. The red jersey changed hands once again with Torstein Traeen taking the lead after being part of the break. Vingegaard moved down into 5th, 2:33 down on the leader but still the best placed of the main GC favourites.

Stage 7 saw another win for the breakaway and the third in a row for UAE with Juan Ayuso crossing the line first. Ayuso took maximum KOM points at two sprints on the day with Jay Vine taking the other two and maintaining his lead in that competiton. There was also change on GC with the GC favourites all moving up and Vingegaard into second place, no changes to the gap to first.

The sprinters got another opportunity to win on stage 8 with Jasper Philipsen taking another stage and closing the gap to first in the points classification to just 15. There were no changes to the other classifications making it a quiet stage in what has otherwise been a hectic grand tour.

Stage 9 went to Jonas Vingegaard after an 10km solo effort, despite his efforts the deficit on GC stands at 37 seconds. Joao Almeida came third on the stage and maintains his position in third ahead of Thomas Pidcock who came second and moves up 7 places. There was no major change to the other classifications on the stage.

Classification Leaders:

General: Torstein Traeen

Points: Mads Pedersen

Youth: Giulio Pelizzari

Mountains: Jay Vine

Team: UAE Team Emirates XRG

Dropouts:

(DNF Stage 2) Guillaume Martin - Groupama - FDJ

(DNS Stage 3) Alex Zingle - Visma Lease a Bike

(DNS Stage 3) Jorge Arcas - Movistar Team

(DNF Stage 4) Carlos Garcia Pierna - Burgos Burpellet BH

(DNF Stage 4) Valentin Paret-Peintre - Soudal Quick-Step

(DNS Stage 6) Arjin Livyns - Lotto

(DNS Stage 6) Simon Carr - Cofidis

(DNS Stage 6) Pepijn Reinderink - Soudal Quick-Step

(DNF Stage 6) Koen Bouwman - Team Jayco AlUla

(DNS Stage 7) Cristian Rodriguez - Arkea - B&B Hotels

(DNF Stage 7) Danier Cavia - Burgos Burpellet BH

(DNF Stage 7) Luca Vergallito - Alpecin - Deceuninck

(DNF Stage 8) George Bennett - Israel - Premier Tech

(DNF Stage 8) Oliver Knight - Cofidis

(DNF Stage 8) Eric Antonio Fagundez - Burgos Burpellet BH