Ciccone and Bernal can head to the World Championships feeling good, Landa misses out on last chance: "Sometimes it's quite sad"
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Follow us on GoogleEveryone knew that on the Bola del Mundo in stage 20 of the Vuelta a España, it would be between the GC contenders, so you'd have to be entirely out of your mind to still ride hard all day to try to win from the breakaway, right? Fortunately, riders are out of their minds, and they sold their skin dearly.
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UAE Team Emirates-XRG pushed hard all day, knowing that their leader, João Almeida, wanted to try something on the steep final climb. And yet Soudal-Quick Step, Lidl-Trek, and INEOS Grenadiers all had the same goal: to help their leader win the day. Mikel Landa, Giulio Ciccone, and Egan Bernal were the ones to watch.
Although the breakaway group was large, it was clear that it was mainly about the trio of climbers. And Landa, Ciccone, and Bernal were the last ones left, together with the brave EF Dutchman Jardi van der Lee. “We knew it was going to be a tough day, with little chance for the breakaway,” Landa sighed to Eurosport.
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Bernal and Landa knew they were on an impossible mission
“We had a plan to be in the breakaway group, and we succeeded,” said Bernal, who had Bob Jungels with him as a pacemaker. “In the last kilometers, it was all about the legs. It was fun and I enjoyed the race. We tried, and I think we weren't even that far from victory.”
That was also Landa's conclusion: "It was my only option to win the stage, but the final climb was too much for me. I felt empty, so it was difficult to finish. I was quite optimistic because I heard that the group behind us was small. I'm happy, even though I was quite sad at times during this Vuelta. My legs were good, but my back wasn't good enough."
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Bram van der PloegEditor-in-chief
Bram van der Ploeg (35) is the proud founder of In de Leiderstrui, IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, launched in 2018. Finally, he could create stories about the sport he had followed since childhood. He is the editor-in-chief on paper, but prefers to be with his recorder next to a rider, a team bus, or in the mud at a cyclocross race. Every year, from February to the end of May, Bram follows the entire Italian cycling season, from the Trofeo Laigueglia to the Giro d'Italia, with the grand finale in October in Lombardy. During that time, he lives in Tuscany, where he has since come to call Italy his 'home'.
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