After the storm in the Sierra de la Pandera, logic and necessary calm prevailed among the favorites in the scorching route between Palma del Río and Córdoba, with a temperature of 43º at the finish line and practically 40º throughout the route. The stage had been reduced from 190 to 110 kms. One of the three third-category climbs was also removed.
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Even so, the riders, cooked in their own juice, pedaled inside a stewpot. From it, steaming, emerged, colossal, Wout Van Aert, head of a small group of five men completed by Alessandro Romele (Astana), Thibaut Nys (Lidl-Trek), Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin) and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X), who finished in that order. It was Van Aert’s second victory (he had already won in the same square in 2024), his fifth in all the Vueltas he has participated in, and Visma’s fifth in this edition. The peloton of illustrious riders arrived 2:44 behind.
Along the “Cordobita la llana” of the copla, the riders had been moving until the La Forestal climb, preceded by threatening ramps, stood between them and the plain. There would be no flat terrain until the end, after the Artafi climb, its extensions, its replicas, in a succession of tight non-scoring mountain ranges and the descent towards Córdoba. Visma and Cofidis controlled the peloton. Visma for Matthew Brennan, the fastest man in the Vuelta and one of the pure sprinters who best handle mid-range climbs. Cofidis, for Coquard.
Cofidis did have that plan. The only one. Visma, on the other hand, did not. And, just like in Loja, plan A was Van Aert. And Brennan’s was another diversion maneuver. It worked. The stage was demanding in both climate and terrain. It broke apart everywhere, the last when Van Aert pushed forward after the intermediate sprint in Santa María de Trassierra and took his four companions with him. And we must mention Leknessund, the most combative of the day and the only survivor of the initial breakaway of a dozen men.
Alberto Contador designated Enric Mas as his successor. The alternative proved unsuccessful, and Mas has carried the weight of the bold prediction all this time. No one blamed Contador for being wrong, but Enric for not meeting the master’s expectations, as if he were the cause of someone else’s mistake. Perhaps he was the inspirer with his promising signs, but not the responsible one. However, as things stand, if he wins the Vuelta, which is yet to be confirmed, he will have become the first Spaniard after Alberto to win a Grand Tour. Contador won the 2009 Tour, the 2014 Vuelta, and the 2015 Giro. No compatriot has imitated him since. If Mas, we repeat, takes the Vuelta, he will, in a way, end up proving him right.
The race rests before resuming on Tuesday with a stage of small climbs and a progressive descent from Cartagena to Palos de la Frontera. From Tuesday on, the final stretch.
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