Ayuso rises like a phoenix in Vuelta with statement win, while Vingegaard rides defensively

While Jay Vine (UAE Emirates-XRG) won stage six on Thursday, it was Torstein Traaein who became the new leader in the Vuelta on behalf of Bahrain Victorious. The team announced on Friday that it would definitely defend the leader's jersey. That would have to be done in a tough stage, starting in Andorra and finishing (uphill) in Spain. Four climbs were on the program, two of which were first category.

A group of four riders broke away in the run-up to the first climb of the day, the 24.3-kilometer Port del Cantó. They did not gain a significant lead, after which the battle for the early breakaway really erupted on the first sections of the climb. The pace was immediately very high, and it was therefore a full-on race. Ayuso, after losing time the day before, also joined the early breakaway. The Spaniard rode away on his own.

We don't know what fuel Ayuso was running on that day. But what was clear was that he was making a statement. He ended up completing the entire climb on his own, but due to the behavior of the peloton, his lead never exceeded 30 seconds. Nevertheless, he took the points on the first Port del Canto, ahead of green jersey Mads Pedersen, no less.

The Dane from Lidl-Trek caught up with Ayuso on the descent, together with Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Sean Quinn, Jardi van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost), Damien Howson (Q36.5), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Raul Garcia Pierna (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL), Eduardo Sepulveda (Lotto), and Marco Frigo (Israel Premier Tech). After a good hour of racing, they formed the day's leading group.

The peloton decided to take things easy and let the lead increase to four minutes. This allowed riders who had been dropped earlier to catch up, and in the case of the Bahrain Victorious duo, Roman Ermakov and Matthijs Paasschens, to take the lead towards Puerto de la Creu de Peryes: a 5.7-kilometer climb at 6.3 percent, which we started 85 kilometers from the finish.

Vine took the mountain points on that climb, confirming his ambitions for the mountain jersey, while there was good cooperation at the front. The better climbers even dropped back after the penultimate climb, allowing Pedersen to pick up points at the intermediate sprint.

Meanwhile, the peloton picked up the pace towards the final climb, starting with a three-and-a-half-minute gap. Vine decided to sacrifice himself for Ayuso, who launched his attack ten kilometers from the finish. Frigo was able to follow the Spaniard's lead, but was unable to respond to a second acceleration. That concluded the battle for the stage victory. Ayuso eventually crossed the finish line with his fingers in his ears.

In the large group, Visma | Lease a Bike took up the challenge, with Victor Campenaerts and Wilco Kelderman leading the charge. Mikel Landa was the first victim on behalf of Soudal Quick-Step, but when Marc Soler and Joao Almeida, on behalf of UAE Emirates-XRG, accelerated again, Santiago Buitrago, Antonio Tiberi, and white jersey Giulio Pellizzari, among others, were also left behind. Red jersey Torstein Traeen was still with them.

An attack by Almeida caused further splits, with only Jonas Vingegaard and Giulio Ciccone able to follow. Sepp Kuss and Egan Bernal caught up a little later, but they didn't really push on, allowing a few other riders, including Traeen, to rejoin the group. Only Marc Soler gained a few seconds.