For a second major mountain stage of three in this year’s Vuelta a España, Tadej Pogačar continues to dominate the GC, but UAE Team Emirates-XRG was once again subjected to a major challenge by Decathlon CMA CGM.
Halfway up the summit finish climb of Aramón Valdelinares, with UAE down to four riders including Pogačar, the French squad suddenly put Gregor Muhlberger and Matthew Riccitello up front, swamping the UAE line.
As at Andorra on stage 4, Decathlon’s decision to try to isolate Pogačar worked up to a point, and it even culminated, once again, in an intense drive of around 300 metres by their leader, Felix Gall, to which only Pogačar could respond.
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However, that was as good as it got, as the Vuelta leader then moved away ahead of the Austrian climber, leaving Gall to continue with a lone pursuit of the Slovenian – but ahead of his GC rivals.
Gall crossed the line six seconds behind Pogačar but with a 10-second advantage on Enric Mas (Movistar) and a further 23 on the remainder of his GC rivals. That pushes him up a spot into fourth overall, and with Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) only 11 seconds ahead, the battle for the podium is growing more intense with each stage that passes.
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It was a much better performance, too, for Gall after stage 6’s difficult day on the gravel-capped climb of Puerto de El Bartolo, where he lost time on Pogačar and Mas. This time round, even if the Slovenian remains out of reach – and he’s hardly alone in that – on this occasion, Gall was definitely best of the rest.
“It’s nice to create some gaps, it was a bit of a more of a relaxed day, the most relaxed day of the first part of the race, so that was nice, and I’m definitely happy with the outcome of today,” Gall said afterwards.
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“I felt much better today, yesterday was also, in the end, a good day apart from the final, which was pretty bad, but that’s how it is in a Grand Tour sometimes.”
As was only logical, Gall paid tribute to Decathlon for turning in such an impressive all-round performance, one which even if it didn’t put Pogačar into difficulties, certainly had the right kind of effect regarding his GC aspirations for the podium.
“The guys always push me to be more aggressive. Gregor is always motivated, he can always push me to try something.
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“It was super nice, I suffered quite a bit on Gregor’s wheel, that’s for sure, but it’s a pleasure to race with such a strong team and nice to get some gaps today.”
The plan to attack on Aramón took shape during the race, he said, with the initial aim to be more conservative, but then it turned out that “it was a good day to try something. We have strong teammates, so you can actually do that.”
However, whilst only Pogačar able to withstand his assault, Gall recognised there was a limit to his ambitions, and that didn’t involve dislodging the Slovenian star from the top spot overall.
“Tadej was just doing his pace, and I wasn’t really focusing on him,” he explained. “This is a race for the podium; you take him out of the equation.”
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